The Fall
by freaky-hanyou
Summary: Claire Breeze lives a happy life with Jack Frost, but a small part of her can't help but feel something is missing...when that certain something falls into their lives and changes them forever, will it be a blessing or a curse? JackxOC, Sequel to Of Soft Breezes!
1. Prologue

Why hello there! Let me just say I am super excited but more than a little nervous to be undertaking this chapter story, a sequel to _Of Soft Breezes and Wintry Nights _(so if you haven't check that out first or this might not make sense). I plan for it to have fluff, but I think it will turn out to be more of a drama than romance...you'll see.

Disclaimer: (applying to the rest of the story) I do not own Jack Frost's character from the movie (and books that have nothing to do with my stories) Rise of the Guardians. I do however, own Claire Archer, Alexandra Martin, and the fictional adjustment to Eagle Canyon, Utah (which is a real place, but is probably nothing like how I have made it to be in my story).

I'm just going to shut up so you can read, how about that.

"talking" _thinking _((scenechange/me))

**The Fall**

_Prologue _

_((The following is a newspaper clipping from June 15, 2070))_

**Tragedy Strikes at Windswept Falls**

Windswept Falls, a well-known tourist destination in Eagle Canyon, is well known for picturesque twin water falls that run over the steep 300-foot canyon into the river below. At this popular outlook, visitors enjoy peering down into the narrow canyon to try and catch a glimpse into the misty water below. This photo spot is home to hundreds of visitors every day. No one could predict it would soon be the home to such tragedy.

On the afternoon of June 14th, 5 year old Alexandra Martin fell 300-feet to her death over the Canyon at Windswept Falls. Martin stepped away from her mother after a picture was taken; in a freak accident, the ground crumbled underneath her, and she was swept over the side into the misty waters below. Due to the narrowness of the Canyon and the rushing water at its base, it is presumed that no body would be able to be recovered.

The outlook at Windswept Falls is closed until the safety of the area can be determined.

-((To Be Continued!))-

Short , mysterious, and makes no sense at all. Like I said, this place is completely fictional. Eagle Canyon is a real place in Utah but it has nothing I said it does. Don't worry, I'm going to post Chapter 1 right after this because this is nothing. Here we go!

~freaky-hanyou


	2. An Accident Occurs

Since the prologue and this are going up together, I'll keep my words short, but let me just emphasize that I have an outline of this story, but it has a lot of wiggle room. So _please_ if you have any constructive criticism or feel I haven't developed something completely please tell me. I've added chapters on reviewer's suggestion before, so please don't hesitate. Oneshots are my specialty for a reason haha.

Onward then!

"talk" _think_ ((scenechange/me))

Also forgot to mention that the original story was set in 2012, so this is a substantial time jump.

**The Fall**

_Chapter One: An Accident Occurs _

((In a small house at the base of Windswept Falls))

_June 14, 2070_

Claire Breeze stepped out of the front door of her tiny home and stretched with a slight yawn. She looked to her left, smiling at the slim waterfalls that fell into the misty river that flowed right next to her home. _For such a secluded area, this place is truly beautiful. _The mist rose high above the home, providing decent cover should anyone peer over the cliff high above. She lifted off the ground, slowly flying into the mid-morning air. Although it was early, the cliff top was already filled with families peering over the ledge and taking pictures. Claire smiled, stopping so that she was covered by mist should any children be able to spot her. She watched two particularly rambunctious boys race each other near the picnic tables, the elder handily outstripping his younger brother. The younger brother stopped, frustrated, then squealed in delight as the elder picked him up and spun him around.

Claire laughed softly as she watched the children play. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist, pulling her tight against a male figure.

"Watching again?" a voice whispered in her ear. Claire shivered before turning around in the arms of Jack Frost, her husband of over fifty years. She smiled softly up at him, nodding.

Jack sighed, pulling her tighter against him. "Claire...I wish every day that we could have a child of our own...That I didn't deny you the chance to have your own..."

Claire quickly stifled his words with a peck on the lips. "Jack, it's okay. I have all the children in the world, and I get to spend forever with you...I feel like we've been over this," she said with a wink as she laid her forehead on his, nuzzling their noses together.

Jack chuckled, bringing his hands decidedly lower than her waist. "How about refreshing my memory..." Claire smirked before bringing her lips to his, reminding him what it's like to spend every day of forever with Claire Breeze. As the two kissed, Jack gripped her tighter before falling backwards in the air, aiming for their front door. Without a glance, Jack twisted midair and landed them safely in front of the house. Claire absently reached a hand behind her, blowing the front door open. She giggled as Jack swept her into the living room in a whirl of winter air.

"Oh Jack," Claire whispered as Jack laid her down onto the couch. "Jack!" Claire giggled again as he nibbled on her ear, slightly frosting it with his lips. Of course, Claire didn't feel any colder; a perk of sharing the same powers with her husband.

_I really hope Jack Frost gives us a Snow Day tomorrow!_

_Yeah! I hope so! _

Jack groaned as he took one last nip against his wife's neck before floating off of the couch. Claire raised an eyebrow. "Duty calls?" She questioned.

Jack nodded. "New Zealand. It's a tad too early for a Snow Day, but I've never been one to stick to a schedule," he said with a grin. "You coming?"

Although in the past fifty years Claire had become more well-known, if she was mentioned at all she was usually mentioned in the same sentence as her husband-even the world noticed they worked as team.

Claire got off the couch and took Jack's hand. "I'll meet you there," she said as they exited the house. "I want to check on the greenhouse first."

Jack chuckled, looking over to the small greenhouse next to their home. "Sometimes I wonder who you're really married to," he said with a wink.

Claire made a gesture that sent the wind whipping against his rear. "Hey-!" Jack said as he took to the sky. Claire just smiled and waved him on before turning to her garden.

Because Claire could not have children of her own, she took her plants very seriously. Every day she spent a few hours in her greenhouse, tending to the flowers and bushes, ensuring that each received proper care despite the misty atmosphere outside. Time flew by for Claire Breeze as she methodically weeded, watered, and cared for her plants. Although she shared her wintry husband's chilly abilities, because she only controlled the wind she was able to stay for long periods in the hotter climate. Conversely, Jack hated going into the greenhouse and could only stay inside for a few minutes.

_You're missing all the fun, Claire,_ Claire heard Jack's voice inside her head. _Lose track of time again?_

Claire pushed her mostly-brown hair out of her face, leaving a dirt smear on her cheek. "Coming, Jack!" she said as she put away her gardening tools and stepped out of the greenhouse. However, just before she took to the sky, she noticed something peculiar near the cliffside.

_What...? _She flew closer, and saw an object rapidly falling down the side of the cliff. Almost like...

_A child!_ Claire thought, panicking as she shot over to the edge of the cliff, trying to catch the child before she fell into the rushing water. Using all of her speed, Claire propelled herself at the child, catching her inches above the water. Her forward momentum carried them straight into the wall of the cliff, but she shielded the girl, back colliding with the solid rock. Winded but mostly unhurt, Claire carried the child to the side of the river to check for injuries.

The child was a young girl; she had bright blond hair and a heart-shaped face. Claire noticed the little girl had a huge gash on the side of her temple, which had probably knocked her unconscious. Claire looked up at the cliff, noticing the many outcroppings on the side. _She could have hit any one of those on the way down,_ Claire assessed as she very carefully checked that she was still breathing and for broken bones. Finding nothing major except the gash on her head, Claire gently lifted the girl into her arms and carried her into the house.

"Jack," she whispered as she laid the girl down on the couch, "you need to come home and see this. Something's wrong."

Claire gently ran her hands through the girl's hair, and she stirred slightly before falling still again. As the silence prevailed, Claire slowly began to panic.

_A little girl. There must have been an accident on the cliffside; I have to return her! But how, she's unconscious and I don't know the extent of her injuries...and there is no explaining a girl suddenly returning to the top of the cliffiside alone...how-_

Suddenly, the front door burst open, and Jack was at her side in an instant, checking her for injuries. "Claire, what happened? What's-" Jack fell silent as he noticed the girl unconscious on the couch. "Claire-?" he questioned, unable to take his eyes off the injured girl.

"She fell from the cliff," Claire explained, "I saw her as I was leaving the greenhouse and caught her before she hit the water."

Jack was silent for a moment, staring at Claire. "We have to return her," he finally said before moving to pick the girl up.

"Jack, wait!" Claire protested with a hand on his arm. "We can't move her; we don't know if her injuries are more extensive-"

"If we wait too long, her parents will leave-"

"But how will we be able to return her anyways? There's no way to explain a girl that fell off a cliff just _miraculously _reappearing at the top!"

Jack shut his mouth abruptly. "Fine. We'll wait until she wakes up, and she'll tell us where she lives so we can return her."

"But she's so young," Claire commented as she stared at the girl, "she can't be more than five years old..." Claire's eyes widened as a whole new horror dawned on her. "Jack," she whispered, "What if she can't see us? What if she wakes up and thinks she is all alone in a strange house? What can we do?"

"We'll just have to hope she's the type of girl that believes in fairy tales," Jack said grimly, staring down at her. The girl stirred once again, opening her eyes slightly. Claire held her breath, but she fell unconscious again.

"I'll get her some water," Claire said, moving to the kitchen.

Jack continued to stare at the girl as she slowly came around. Her blue eyes fluttered open as Claire returned to the room. Claire held her breath as the girl's panicked eyes moved around the room. Thankfully, they settled on Jack. However, it appeared that she could see no one else.

"W-Where am I?" the little girl said, panicked.

"Jack, she can't see me!" Claire said in a rush, "Comfort her!"

"Shh, it's alright," Jack said as he knelt down by the girl on the couch. "You just fell and hit your head is all. You're going to be alright; you're safe. What's your name?" he said with a reassuring smile.

"L-lex," the girl said, still scared.

"It's alright," Jack said, gently resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. The girl gasped at the cold, and Jack pulled his hand away. Claire glared at him. Jack looked back at her, shrugging his shoulders in an '_oops_' gesture.

"W-why are you so cold?" the girl said, distracted.

Jack grinned at her. "I'm Jack Frost, Lex," he said with a wintry smile, "Have you heard of Jack Frost?" he asked although he already knew the answer.

Lex's eyes went very wide. "Jack Frost? But...why are you here in the summer?" she asked.

Jack chuckled. "You just happened to fall right near my house! Tell me Lex," Jack said as his eyes fell on a clearly-pained Claire for a moment, "Have you ever heard of Claire Breeze?"

Lex moved to shake her head no, but winced. Jack made a sympathetic sound, but refrained from touching her again as he continued, "Claire Breeze is my...partner in crime," he explained, "she controls all the wind in the world! You better watch out for her," he explained with a twinkle in his eye.

As Jack explained to Lex about Claire Breeze, she slowly appeared before Lex's eyes as she began to believe. She gasped, pointing at her. "Who-?"

"It's nice to meet you, Lex," Claire said in relief as she knelt beside the girl, "I'm Claire Breeze," she said, rubbing the girl's arm comfortingly.

"You're not cold," Lex pointed out.

"Nope!" Claire explained, "It's Jack's job to be chilly and frosty. I can _be_ cold if I needed to be, but you need to be warm right now," she said with a smile. "Can you tell me what hurts?"

"M-my head," Lex said, near tears.

Claire continued to rub her arm comfortingly. "It's okay, we're going to help you get all better! Does anything else hurt?"

"No..." Lex said, eyes drooping again from exhaustion.

"That's good! We'll get you all better so we can take you home. Do you know where you live Lex?"

Lex thought for a moment. "No," she said, distressed.

"That's alright," Claire said comfortingly. "Do you know your Mommy or Daddy's name?"

Lex only grew more distressed. "No!" she said near tears, "I can't...remember..." she started to cry, and Claire lifted her from the couch into her arms, sitting on the couch and rocking her until she fell asleep. As she rocked, she met Jack's eyes, who grew more and more concerned as each second passed.

-((To Be Continued!))-

There you have it! Having children was the one issue I felt I didn't address with our couple. Please let me know what you think! More to come soon!

R&R!

~freaky-hanyou


	3. Not Even Google Can Fix It

Hello everyone! Don't think I updated a different story on purpose yesterday; I actually intended on updating nothing yesterday but I just couldn't help myself :)

On that note, I plan to rock this story out so I don't forget where I want to take it. Thank you so much for the follow and favorites! And a special thanks to collegegirl for leaving me a review! It's great to know you guys are out there :D

Shall we?

**The Fall**

_Chapter Two: Not Even Google Can Fix It_

After a while, Claire was able to calm Lex down enough that she fell asleep again. Claire gently laid the exhausted girl on the couch, trying not to jostle her injury. She turned to look at Jack's expressionless face, concern evident in her eyes.

"She can't stay here," Jack said calmly, breaking the quiet that had fallen between them. "You know she can't."

"Jack, she doesn't remember anything but her name!" Claire exclaimed, keeping her voice down so as not to wake th girl.

"So we take her to an emergency room or something, leave her at the door-" Jack cut himself off, reconizing the '_are-you-kidding-me'_ look that Claire was giving him. "Alright, bad idea," he backpedaled, "but we she needs to be returned to her family where she can heal in the peace and quiet of her own home."

"I know, but how can we return her to her family if we don't know who or where they are? Even if we did know, we couldn't fly with her yet. Who knows what kind of head injury she has? She can't go great distances yet-"

Jack tried to mask his noise of frustration as he sat down on a chair in the living room, trying to gather his thoughts. "Claire...I don't doubt that you want to return her to her family just as much as I do, but...I'm afraid if we keep her here until she heals, you'll..." he hesitated.

Claire stepped closer to Jack. "I'll what?" she asked calmly. _Too _calmly.

"You'll get too attached to her," Jack said in a rush. Claire started to protest, but Jack cut her off, "I'm not saying you would actively _prevent_ her from returning to her family, but the fact remains that it would hurt you Claire!" Jack stood, taking Claire's hands in both of his own. "I just don't want to see you upset.." he said, moving in to kiss her softly.

Claire accepted the kiss, but pulled away to continue talking. "I know you're concerned and are just looking out for me," Claire said, smiling slightly, "but understand that I am willing to put aside my own feelings to help this child heal and be loved." She hesitated. "And if we can't find her family, and she has to stay here, then so be it."

Jack's eyes hardened, and he let go of her hands, turning away to walk out the door of the house. "Well I don't agree with that," he said, closing the door behind him.

Claire stood for a second alone in the living room with the sleeping Lex. Her frustration disappeared for a moment as she stared into her innocent face before returning with a vengeance. In a spike of anger, Claire blew open the door and flew through it, stopping inches in front of Jack.

"You want to take her home immediately?" Claire accused as her feet landed on the ground. "Fine, we will figure out a way. After all, that should be the _easy _part once we find out where her family is-"

"We can just Google it, dammit!" Jack retorted hotly. "It was a big accident; it had to have been reported in the news!"

"How, Jack, _how?_" Claire replied, exasperated, "We can't just hop on a computer and Google things anymore now that Hunter is-" she cut herself off, abruptly turning away from Jack as traitorous tears sprang into her eyes.

Jack closed his eyes, immediately regretting bringing it up. Only a few months before, Claire's older brother Hunter had passed away of old age. Hunter had many children, who also had many children, but with each generation Claire's family grew less and less understanding of their ageless great aunt and uncle. When Hunter was still alive, Claire and Jack had lived in a small abandoned house that the locals considered haunted. Hunter was able to pay bills for them so they could have electricity, television, and the internet. After his death, with no one to legally help with bills, Claire and Jack had moved to a more secluded area-Windswept Falls.

"Claire..." Jack whispered, tentatively stepping closer to wrap his arms around her waist. Claire lifted a hand to clasp around his, wanting the comfort but not quite ready to forgive him yet.

"There's still one of your nephews that believes _and _welcomes visits," he reminded her, arms tightening around her. "He wouldn't mind if we used his computer for a bit, would he?"

Claire sighed, finally turning around in her husband's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. "...No, I don't think he would," she said. "I'm still hesitant about moving her while she's injured this way, Jack," she said, pressing the point. "I will go to Michael's to find her family, but can we at least wait to move her until she's healed? If she has a concussion that worsens on the way-"

"Alright," Jack said, giving in. "As long as we know where we are taking her..." He looked deep into Claire's blue-green eyes, questioning. "Are you sure you'll be alright only having her for this short amount of time?" he asked seriously.

Claire kissed him tenderly on the cheek. "I'll be alright, as long as you're here with me," she said smiling. Jack leaned down and kissed her fully on the lips, relieved that they could work this out together. "I'll go pay a visit to Michael; let me know if she wakes up?" Claire said as she pulled away from Jack.

"I'll watch her," Jack said reassuringly as he started to head towards the house, only pausing to watch Claire take to the sky.

-((Nevada))-

Michael Archer loved his family, no matter how quirky it was. He loved all of his children and made sure that each of them recognized the importance of family.

No matter how unconventional.

As Hunter's first born child, he spent the most time with Aunt Claire before and after she became Claire Breeze. He didn't think it was fair how his younger siblings treated her. As such, when his father died, he made sure that when Aunt Claire and Uncle Jack had to move, they moved nearby (or at least, nearby in terms of their method of transportation) so if they ever needed anything, he would be able to help.

So it was no surprise to Michael when a strong breeze rattled the front windows of his home, followed by a knock on the front door.

He opened the door with a wide smile. "Aunt Claire," he greeted, opening his arms for a hug. Although his Aunt Claire was over sixty years his senior, she still appeared to be younger than him by over ten years. Nevertheless, the shorter woman enfolded him in a matronly hug.

"Michael," she said, "how are you doing?"

"Oh you know, nothing special," Michael said as he led Claire into the house. "Is Uncle Jack with you?"

Claire shook her head in the negative. "Actually Michael, something important has happened that I need to talk to you about-"

"Aunt Claire!" a flying human ball of energy shouted before throwing herself at Claire. Claire caught her seven year old grand-niece under the arms, spinning her around in the air.

"Hello, Sophie!" she greeted her warmly. "How is summer vacation?"

"It's awesome, Aunt Claire! Let me show you what I did today-" she said as Claire put her down, already starting to drag her to the play room.

"Sophie," Michael said, "Would you mind if I talked to Aunt Claire for a minute?"

Sophie nodded, running into the play room. Michael turned back to Claire. "What's wrong?"

Claire sat down on the living room couch, explaining the situation. "So we have no idea how to contact her parents; we just have to hope that the news reported it."

Michael was already reaching for his laptop on the coffee table. He opened it up, handing it to her as he sat down next to her. "A child, Aunt Claire? But that could mean-"

"I know," Claire finished, unable to keep all the hope out of her eyes at the prospect of raising a child as her own. "But it shouldn't be that difficult to find her parents with the help of the internet," she said, opening the browser.

Unfortunately, Claire was unable to find any news article about the accident. She stared at the screen, frowning. "There's nothing here..."

Michael wasn't surprised. "It just happened a few hours ago, right? Give them time to write the article," he said with a smile. He was already reaching for his briefcase. "Here," he said, handing Claire a wireless card. "Take the computer and this, so you can keep checking to see if an article has been posted."

"Michael-"

"Just bring it back tomorrow," he said, overriding her conerns. "It's not a problem."

Claire smiled, hugging her nephew tightly. "You were always my favorite, you know that?"

Michael laughed. "I know."

Claire kissed him on the cheek before standing up. "Will you explain to Sophie why I had to leave so quickly?"

Michael waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," he said.

Claire hugged him again before she stepped out the door, taking to the sky.

-((the next day))-

It was early the next morning before Claire found an article about a freak accident at Windswept Falls the day before.

"Jack!" Claire said from her seat on the couch next to Jack, who was coloring with a fully-conscious, yet still injured Lex.

Jack looked up, reading the article Claire found. "That has to be it," Jack agreed.

Claire looked over at Lex, who was coloring from a reclined position on the couch, head resting on several pillows."Lex?"

Lex looked up from her picture.

"Have you ever heard of Alexandra Martin?" Claire asked tentatively.

Lex thought for a long moment before replying. "No...why?"

"No reason," Claire replied quickly, not wanting to upset her. "I need to talk to Jack in the kitchen for a minute, okay?" Lex nodded, returning to her picture.

"She really doesn't remember," Claire said once she and Jack entered the kitchen.

"But we know who and where her family is thanks to the article," Jack replied, leaning against the counter. "If she doesn't feel any worse, we should be able to take her home in a few days," he added helpfully.

Claire smiled. "If she is feeling up to it, I will be more than happy to take her home."

-((a week later))-

Claire paced the living room floor, holding Lex in her arms as she cried her eyes out in the middle of the night. "Shh, it'll get better," she said, kissing Lex on the temple as she tried not to jostle her.

"But it hurts," Lex said, wrapping her little arms tightly around Claire's neck. Claire continued walking, trying to get Lex to calm down and rest. Jack stood near the front door, watching the pair before he set out for the night.

"Are you two going to be okay?" he asked, unable to keep the concern out of his eyes. For the past week, there have been days when Lex was so healthy that the couple was convinced they'd be able to take her home the next day, only to find her crying and in pain the next.

Claire continued to pace, crooning softly. "Maybe we _should_ take her to the hospital if her conussion is this bad," she said, worried.

Jack came and kissed her on the cheek, carefully avoiding touching Lex lest he chill her. "We'll see how she feels in the morning, okay? We aren't doctors; it could be just some kind of traumatic migrane or something."

Claire wasn't convinced, but kissed him goodnight anyways before he flew out the door. She sat down on the couch, rocking Lex as she finally started to fall asleep.

_I feel so helpless, _Claire thought, _She could just die anyway after all of this..._Claire watched anxiously as Lex finally rested peacefully in her arms. However, tired as she was, Claire couldn't bring herself to put her down and go to sleep; she wanted to make sure that she was awake in case Lex needed her during the night.

_Please get better Lex, _she thought, kissing her on the forehead.

-((the next day))-

Claire was amazed at the amount of energy Lex had the next day. Lex ran everywhere in the house, exploring and asking questions. Claire could do nothing but follow her; she couldn't help but smile, energized by Lex's youthful energy.

"Lex?" Claire asked as the little girl pulled out Claire's pots and pans to play 'kitchen' with. "How do you feel today?"

"Awesome!" Lex replied excitedly, digging through the cupboards for mixing spoons and other cooking utensils.

"Awesome enough to fly?" Claire couldn't help but ask, silently dreading the answer. Lex dropped all the pans, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"_Fly?_" she asked in awe.

"Yep," Claire said as she picked her up. "How else do you think Jack and I get around?" she said, winking.

"I wanna fly!" Lex said, excitement overflowing as Claire carried her outside. At that moment, Jack returned from his wintry mischief the night before.

"Looks who's energetic today?" Jack said in greeting to the two as he landed next to Claire.

"We were just going for a little test flight," Claire said, meeting Jack's eyes to fully convey the meaning of that statement.

"I see," Jack said before kissing Claire on the cheek and rubbing Lex's head. "Be careful," he continued as he watched Claire slowly take Lex up in the air. The girl squealed in delight, blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Claire decided to fly a little faster, holding onto Lex tightly. When Lex showed no signs of anything but delight, she landed back on the ground next to Jack.

"Did that hurt your head at all?" Claire asked Lex seriously. Lex shook her head no, already asking to go up again. Jack sighed in relief, breaking into a wide smile.

"I'll go get the address," he said, disappearing into the house.

Claire watched him go, a sinking feeling already growing in her stomach. She looked down at the girl in her arms, who smiled brightly as Claire hovered in the air to entertain her. "How about we go on a little trip, Lex?" she asked with excitement in her voice, despite the hollowness she was already starting to feel.

"Yes!" Lex exclaimed, already fidgeting in Claire's arms. "Let' go, let's fly!"

Jack returned outside with a paper listing the address of Lex's family in Colorado that they found from the news article. "Be safe," he said to both of them as Claire took to the sky, precious bundle squealing with happiness in her arms.

-((in Colorado))-

As she flew, Claire debated what she would say to Lex once they arrived at her home; how would she be able to explain where they were? Would she be able to leave her there?

Did she want to?

Claire shook herself as they neared the street Lex lived on. _I can't be having these thoughts now,_ Claire said as she looked down at the postively exhilarated child in her arms. _She isn't mind to keep...I have to return her._

Steeling her resolve, Claire landed directly in front of the address that they discovered from the news article. It was a beautiful blue two-story house with a wide front yard and a front porch. The house was perfect for this child to grow up in, with one small exception.

In the center of the front yard was a 'For Sale' sign with the word 'SOLD' tacked over it in bold red and white letters.

-((To Be Continued!))-

Uh oh! Problems arise...

If anyone is wondering, the prologue is only a clipping of the article. Assume there was a second page of the article interviewing the family with names and where they were from. It was too sad for me to write about, but you get the idea.

Please let me know what you think!

~freaky-hanyou


	4. A Permanent Solution?

Hello everyone! I want to get to it, and I know you want me to get right to it, so I'm going to. I just want to thank everyone for favorites/follows, and thank especially Dominoesowner for the review! I _really _appreciate it.

Now I know the nature of this story isn't as fluffy as the original, so I'm going to try my best to kick it up a notch here ;) (there's some **lime,** be warned)

**The Fall**

_Chapter Three: A Permanent Solution?_

Claire looked down at the sleeping child in her arms, flying through the air as the sun set completely behind her. She examined her surroundings carefully. _Almost home..._she thought anxiously, gearing herself up for a discussion with Jack. _I completely understand his hesitancy about keeping her, _she mused as she effortlessly dipped through clouds and trees while holding her precious bundle, _but I can't just abandon her to a nameless place when she doesn't even remember her _own_ name! It will be difficult, but I think it will be best for us to keep her._

Claire landed in front of her house, taking a deep breath. _I just hope I can convince him to feel the same way._

Claire entered the house to find Jack waiting for her on the living room couch. "Claire!" Jack greeted, standing when he heard the front door open, "How did it go? Did she get home-Claire?" he questioned upon seeing Lex still in her arms. She raised a finger to her lips, shushing him as she took the girl upstairs to sleep in the extra bedroom. When she returned, she found Jack waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Claire, why-" Jack started as Claire reached the bottom of the stairs, but she silenced him with a finger to his lips. She guided him to the couch by the hand and sat next to him, hands folded in her lap. When she met his eyes, Jack could see flashes of determination, anxiety, and hope mirrored in them.

"No one was there Jack," Claire started, careful to keep her voice even and quiet so as not to disturb Lex. "The house had a sold sign in the front yard and was completely empty." Jack started to speak, but Claire cut him off. "We don't know anyone who lives in Colorado who would be able to help find her parents; how would we start? What if they left the state? There are too many variables, which is why I've decided that until she regains her memory we should keep her."

"Claire-!" Jack protested louder this time, but Claire shushed him again.

"Keep your voice down!" Claire said with a meaningful glance at the stairs. "Notice that I said until she regains her memory. I recognize this is not a permanent solution, but Jack, do we really have any other choice that guarantees her safety?"

Jack was silent for a long moment. "I don't like this Claire," he said finally. "There are too many obstacles and what-ifs we would have to consider! How would we-"

"We'll figure it out one day at a time," Claire said with a soft smile. "We'll figure it out together, right?"

Jack pulled his hand away, standing up. He stopped at the door, pausing to look back at a stricken Claire. "I don't know, Claire Breeze," he said as he stepped out the door and took to the skies.

Claire didn't have the heart to stop him.

-((a few hours later)))-

Claire lay on the couch for hours facing the front door, waiting for Jack to come back. _He can't just leave, _the rational part of herself tried to point out, _we're business partners at the very least! _Still, this didn't prevent Claire from worrying herself sick.

_He has to understand...I know he must agree it's best for Lex..._Claire smiled softly to herself. _Would it be so bad to be able to raise a child together, no matter how short of a time it actually turns out to be?_

"Jack..." she murmured, slightly dozing on the couch. "I love you; please come home."

-((meanwhile))-

Jack lay back in a high tree on the top of a nearby canyon, lost in thought. _What do I think about all of this? _he thought to himself, listening to the nearby nighttime wildlife buzz about him, _To have a child together would be wonderful, but is it really right for two Guardians to raise a human child? There will be so many difficulties..._

He closed his eyes, sighing. _We really don't have a choice do we...dammit, that sounds awful. Let's start with the simple questions. _He looked up at the moon, lost in thought. He closed his eyes again.

_Do I really want to raise a child, human or no, with Claire?_ He paused, ruminating about what he truly wanted.

_Jack..._

Jack's eyes shot open.

_I love you; please come home._

Jack was out of the tree in an instant; he had the answer to his question.

-((Meanwhile))-

Claire was startled out of her doze by a noise at the window next to the front door. Despite the hot June weather outside, frost was slowly crawling across the windowpane. Once it was completely covered, a message was drawn over the frost:

_Sorry._

Claire smiled widely with a relieved laugh, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she stood to meet her husband as he came through the door. He grinned at her, holding his arms open. Claire laughed, throwing herself into his arms. Catching the infectious laughter, Jack spun them around in the air, laughing.

"I don't know how this is going to work," Jack said seriously once the two had returned to the floor, "but we _will _figure it out together."

Claire smiled wider before kissing him tenderly on the lips. "One day at a time."

-((the next day))-

Lex yawned as she sat at the table, eating some cereal for breakfast. Claire sat across from her at the table while Jack leaned on a corner of the counter. Claire took a deep breath, trying to release some of her nervous tension. She met Jack's eyes, who nodded encouragingly. _Might as well get this over with..._

"Lex?" Claire asked. The young girl looked up from her cereal curiously. "I know we don't know who your parents are, and Jack and I were wondering..." Upon seeing the girl's confusion start to melt into distress, Claire got right to the point. "Would you like to say here with us? I know we're not your Mommy or Daddy from before, but we'll do our best..." she trailed off, waiting for the girl to give a response. _Any_ response.

Lex looked down, quietly regarding her cereal. Silence lasted for what Claire felt was too long, before-

"Can I call you Mommy and Daddy?" a soft voice asked.

Claire's smile was uncontainable as she stood to swing the girl into her arms. "Of course you can!" She said with a grin as the girl laughingly played with her new mother.

-((after breakfast))-

"So," Jack said as the new little family lingered in the living room, "I think for starters Lex needs some new clothes."

"Definitely," Claire agreed, "Luckily Michael has a seven year old daughter!" she said happily, already moving towards the door to pay him a visit. "How about while I'm gone, you two have a little father-daughter mischief?" Claire said to Jack with a wink. "I'm sure there's some city that needs your attention, and I can meet you there when I'm finished?"

Jack hesitated briefly, clearly nervous. However, he looked into Lex's questioning blue eyes and smiled widely. "Sounds perfect!" He scooped Lex up into his arms, belatedly (and only half-playfully) tossing her lightly down onto the couch when she cried out from the cold. Jack raised an eyebrow at Claire.

Claire looked around the living room. "Blankets?"

-((off we go!))-

A while later, a firmly blanket-bundled Lex set off with Jack high into the sky. Lex squealed in delight as Jack effortlessly dipped and turned, spinning in the air. "You see squirt, Mommy may be good at flying, but _I-"_ he emphasized with a dive into a cloud, "am the master!"

"Hey!" Lex complained, joy interrupted, "I'm no squirt!"

"You are to me," Jack said with a mischievous grin. "Hmm. Squirt. That's a good nickname for you I think," he mused.

"Is not," Lex pouted.

"Is too!" Jack replied.

"Is not!"

"Is too times infinity," Jack said, laughing when he stumped her. "Alright Squirt," he said to his newfound daughter, "how about a little trip to Australia?"

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Where's that?"

"Faaaaaar away!" Jack said, adding a burst of speed. Lex laughed as the two traveled faster. Jack grinned. _I think I'm going to like this fatherhood business._

-((Australia))-

It wasn't time for huge snowstorms in Australia yet, but a little frost, ice, and mischief never hurt anyone. Nighttime fell as Jack held Lex in one arm, using the other to cover cars and spread some winter wonderland.

"Now Squirt," Jack reminded, "remember that Daddy is invisible, so we have to be quiet if we see anyone, okay?" Lex nodded, too entranced with the magic to ask any questions.

Soon, the two came across a couple walking down the street. Mindful of Lex's human presence, he stayed well away from the two. Putting a finger to his lips, in a flurry of cold air he sent the young woman's hat flying off several feet ahead of her. Lex stifled a giggle. The young man, like a gentleman, ran ahead to pick up her hat. However, he skidded over an _unfortunate _patch of ice and wobbled on his feet, finally losing his balance by falling into the splits on the pavement. Jack could not contain his laughter, and the two continued to laugh as they flew off. Meanwhile, the woman searched for the source of a child's laugh as she helped up her embarassed friend.

Not long after Jack heard a message from Claire. _Where might I find you two?_

"Australia, Claire," Jack replied. Lex looked confused.

"Is Mommy here?" she asked, looking around.

Jack shook his head. "Not yet, but she will be soon. You see, Mommy and I have a special way of talking to each other so we can find each other anywhere in the world," he explained as the two flew over a city.

"Cool!" Lex exlaimed, becoming distracting by the lights.

Sure enough, soon Claire appeared on the horizon, arriving next to her husband and adopted child.

"Are we having fun?" Claire said, kissing Lex on the nose. Lex nodded vigorously.

"Loads," Jack replied. "Hey, where's my kiss?" Claire smirked before reaching over Lex to kiss Jack on the nose. However, at the last moment Jack tilted his chin up to catch her lips with his. Claire pulled away quickly, blushingly looking down at Lex, who was distracted by the skyline.

"Let's go have some fun," Claire said, taking Jack's free hand.

-((a trip through the time zones))-

A long while later, the family returned to Windswept Falls well into the night with Lex asleep in Claire's arms. Claire slowly walked her up the stairs, Jack following her as she laid her down in the guest room.

"This is her bedroom now," Claire whispered, wonderingly looking down at their sleeping child.

Jack wrapped his arms around Claire's waist from behind. "I don't think we did a bad job on our first day as official parents," Jack whispered into her ear.

Claire broke out of his embrace to take him by the hand, shutting Lex's door as she pulled him to their bedroom. "Not bad at all," Claire agreed, also shutting their door before wrapping her arms around Jack's neck. She brought her lip to his in a long, lingering kiss. Jack brought his arms back around her waist, a slow smile coming to his lips when she pulled away.

In a whirlwind of blustery air, Claire found herself pinned to the bed by Jack Frost. Jack held both of her wrists with one hand as he kissed her fiercely, bringing the other hand down to slowly unzip her black jacket. Claire groaned quietly into Jack's lips, arching up as Jack's hand ghosted her breast before trailing down her abdomen. Jack pulled back, nibbling slightly on her bottom lip.

"Jack..." Claire whispered as Jack slipped a hand underneath her camisole, drawing slow circles on her stomach. Claire squirmed, bringing her hips up to grind against Jack's pelvis. Jack inhaled sharply, releasing Claire's hands and using both of his to reach underneath her shirt and cup her breasts. Not to be outdone, Claire reached up to tuck a hand underneath Jack's hoodie, gripping his shoulder blade as Jack squeezed and caressed her breast through her bra. She stealthily moved her other hand to slide down his hip, reaching over to grip him firmly through his jeans.

Jack huffed, pressing his lips insistently against hers. Claire tugged at the bottom of his hoodie until Jack released her long enough to pull off his hoodie before he started to tug her camisole off-

A knock on the door stilled both of their movements. Jack, too shell-shocked to move, let Claire push him off as she padded over to the door, righting her shirt. Opening it, she found Lex standing there in tears. Claire immediately picked her up, holding her close.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she crooned, rocking slightly.

"I-I had a nightmare."

-((To Be Continued!))-

A nightmare? Could it be? XD

I can't proofread this, I'm so tired, so I apologize for anything egregious. I worked a bit of fluff in, let me know what you think!

~freaky-hanyou


	5. The Joys of Parenting

Why hello everyone! I am glad you are enjoying my story. Thank you so much for all the follows and favorites! Also, a _super thank you_ to xInfinitex, for your wonderful review! I do indeed love cliffhangers; readers need a reason to come back, right? :D

Just wait, is all I have to say. Heehee!

So this chapter, because in all three of the Jack/Claire stories there has to be one somewhere, will have a **lemon**. Be warned! I will post little friendly markers where it begins and ends for those who don't want to read it :)

**The Fall**

_Chapter Four: The Joys of Parenting_

Jack hurriedly put his jacket back on as Claire brought Lex into the room, increasing the temperature by a few degrees. Claire met Jack's eyes, concern building, before sitting next to him on the bed, cuddling Lex closely. Dreading the answer, Claire asked:

"What happened in the nightmare, Lex?"

Lex hiccuped, calming down slightly. "I was standing somewhere _really_ tall, and all of a sudden I was falling, and I was about to hit the ground-! But I woke up," she explained, hugging Claire tighter.

Claire rocked back and forth on the bed, trying to calm her down. "Did you hear any...voices?" Claire couldn't resist asking.

Lex met Claire's eyes with confusion. "N-no...was I supposed to?"

"Nooo," Claire said, unable to keep the relief out of her voice as she stood up, Lex still in her arms. "It was a scary dream, but the important thing is is that you're safe. Would you like me to lay with you until you go to sleep?"

"Y-yes," Lex said, and she gave Jack a kiss on the cheek before Claire took her to her bedroom.

"Lex?" Claire asked once the two were settled in her room. "If you ever hear a voice in a nightmare, you tell me okay?" she said, softly running her fingers through Lex's blonde hair.

Lex nodded, already on the way to dreamland. Once she was asleep, Claire slipped out of the room and returned to Jack, who was waiting for her, lying in bed.

"I don't think it was Pitch making a move," Claire hypothesized as Jack put an arm around her shoulders once she lay next to him, "she didn't mention any voices..."

"She did come through a very traumatic experience," Jack allowed, "this could be her brain's way of dealing with the suppressed memories."

"Probably," Claire said with a yawn, "I just hope that it doesn't become a regular occurrence."

Jack wasn't convinced, but said nothing as the two fell asleep.

-((the next day))-

"And these plants will grow into tomatoes," Claire explained, showing Lex around the greenhouse. Lex listened avidly, overwhelmed by all the beautiful flowers and plants.

"Weren't there tomato plants over there?" Lex questioned, pointing to the other side of the greenhouse.

"Yes, but Daddy _loves_ spaghetti, so I try to plant extra!" she said, rubbing Lex's hair affectionately.

"So we'll have _lots_ of tomatoes!" Lex exclaimed, looking at the tomato plant.

Claire squatted down next to Lex, examining the plant. "There don't appear to be too many there right now..." Claire mused, counting to herself. Suddenly, she was struck with a sudden thought.

"How many tomatoes do you see Lex?"

Lex stared at the tomato plant, thinking. "Five?"

"That's right!" Claire said, picking her up and walking towards the front of the greenhouse. "Let's go find Daddy before he leaves for work," she said, heading for the house.

Claire and Lex found Jack in the living room, sitting on the couch examining some weak points on his winter staff. He smiled upon seeing the two. "Showing off your green thumb?" Jack asked.

"Mommy showed me tomatoes!" Lex exclaimed, running over to sit next to him on the couch.

"My favorite," he said with a wink, pulling Lex into a wintry hug. "You ready to go on an adventure with Daddy and Mommy?"

"Actually," Claire interrupted, "I think Lex and I are going to have to stay behind today. And probably for a while..." Jack raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to teach Lex about letters and numbers," she explained, trying to add some excitement to her voice for Lex's benefit.

"Would you like to read with Mommy?" Claire asked, already looking around for a suitable book to practice some words with.

"Awesome!" Lex exclaimed, which was understandable. It was only day one of their little home school.

Jack stood, ready to go out for the day. "You sure about this?" Jack asked, putting an arm on Claire's shoulder.

Claire nodded. "I was studying to be some sort of teacher; that should count for something." She kissed Jack on the cheek, "And besides, she has to learn somehow. So you're going to have to your best without me for a while, alright?" she said seriously.

"One day at a time," he said, pecking her on the lips. "We can take turns; I know how to read too you know," he chuckled as Claire pushed him out the door with a gust of wind.

-((that night))-

Claire anxiously sat up in bed trying to read her book. It was well past midnight, and Jack was not home yet. _I should probably be asleep by now,_ Claire thought, trying to convince herself. It was not out of the ordinary for Jack to come home quite late. However, Claire's eyes lingered on the doorway. _However..._

Claire sighed, putting her book down. _I can't stand this worrying,_ she thought, absentmindedly twisting a pillow in her hand, _What if she has another nightmare? What if she panics? What if it really is Pitch? What if-_

Claire cut her thoughts off, laughing out loud abruptly. _Wow. I really am a full fledged Mom, aren't I?_ Claire laid down completely, trying to get some sleep.

"We'll figure it out," she murmured, trying to ease her fears as she shut her eyes.

There were no nightmares that night.

-((fast forward: the next night))-

Jack opened his bedroom door to find Claire still awake, book in hand.

"Worried about me?" Jack said with a twinkle in his eye.

Claire looked at him dryly. "As dangerous as being immortal can be, I'm a little more concerned about our daughter," she said sarcastically. Jack took off his hoodie, lying next to Claire on the bed.

"She didn't have any nightmares last night, right?" Jack questioned.

"...No," Claire allowed, "but I can't help but worry about it. What if-" Jack cut her off with a tender kiss.

"Claire, there isn't anything we can do about it; it's not Pitch," he said, reassuring her as he placed gentle kisses all over her face and cheeks. "Would you like me to help distract you?" Jack asked deviously, tugging insistently on the end of her camisole.

Claire chuckled, rolling over so that she straddled Jack, hands pressed up against his chest. She leaned down so they were nose to nose. "I see what you're doing Frost," she said, nipping the corner of his lip, "but I guess I can let you get away with it," she kissed the underside of his jaw, trailing kisses down his neck to his collarbone. Her hands migrated southward, working at the buttons on his jeans. Jack inhaled sharply, running a hand through Claire's soft brown/white hair. His hands continued to caress her as her kisses moved lower, kissing down the center of his chest to nip at his abdomen. Jack's breathing grew shaky as Claire kissed along the waistline of his pants, before pulling them slightly downward with her teeth. Jack's harsh breaths turned into a moan as Claire-

An insistent knock on the door broke the spell, and Jack bit his lip to keep from crying out in frustration as Claire rolled off of him to console Lex at the door. As the two padded down the hall to Lex's room, Jack took slow even breaths, calming himself down.

"If this _is_ Pitch doing this, I'll kill him," Jack said angrily to the room.

-((a few months later))-

And so the months continued with Claire and Jack teaching Lex all they could about anything they thought a five year old should know. Every so often, Lex would have the occasional nightmare, but because there was no voice accompanying the fall, the couple continued to believe that there was no real danger. Even still, Claire had difficulty falling asleep at night, worrying for her daughter's safety.

"Jack," Claire whispered late one night, rolling over to face her husband on the bed. Jack cracked open an eye, raising a tired eyebrow.

"I think Lex needs to go to real school."

Jack groaned, trying to wake himself up enough to have this conversation. "What?"

"A real school," Claire continued as if it was not a very late hour of the night, "she needs to be able to make friends with kids her age and be able to have a future in a human society," she explained.

Jack rubbed his eyes. "And how do you suppose that we do this?"

"The only thing I can think of is that Michael would be kind enough to register Lex as his own child; it would be tricky, but Michael has the wherewithal and the contacts in the education system to pull it off...we'd have to fly her to Michael's house before she'd even get on the bus every morning, but I think it would be worth it."

"That sounds good," Jack agreed immediately, wanting to go to sleep, "talk to Michael in the morning. I'm sure it will all work out," he said, eyes already closing.

Claire let Jack fall asleep, but she continued to worry and wonder about the future of her child.

-((the next day))-

Claire sat in Michael's living room, sipping on a cup of tea while trying to figure out how to word her request. She must have sat in silence too long, because Michael leaned forward in his chair, concerned.

"Is something wrong, Aunt Claire?"

Claire snapped herself out of her apprehension, turning to face him. "I have no right to ask this of you," she began, "you have enough of your own worries. But Jack and I have come across a problem we are unable to solve by ourselves. You see, we have been trying to homeschool Lex for the past few months, but we feel that it is time to get her interacting with other kids her own age. If Lex were never enrolled in a formal school setting, it could set her up for so many problems in the future-" Claire cut herself off, realizing she was rambling. "What I'm asking is, would you help us enroll Lex in school so she can get a real education and make some friends her age?"

Michael didn't even hesitate. "Of course," he said with a smile. "She can go to school with my kids. It won't be a problem."

Claire's face broke into a wide smile. "Thanks Michael. We'll bring her here every morning for the bus so there won't be a problem..." Claire paused, thinking about all the ways that Michael had helped them over the years. "We really don't deserve you, nephew of mine," she said softly, reaching over to grasp his hand tightly.

Michael grinned widely. "And you worry too much about everything, Aunt Claire."

-((flash forward))-

The night before Lex's first day of school, Claire and Jack sat down with Lex to have a talk.

"Lex," Claire began, "it is very important when you are in school that you keep Mommy and Daddy a secret," she explained, "the people at school have to think that Uncle Michael is Daddy and Aunt Mae is Mommy, okay? They can't know about us," she emphasized.

Lex frowned, eyebrows knitting together. "But why are you and Daddy a secret?"

Claire paused for a moment, wondering how to explain. "It's Mommy and Daddy's job to protect kids all around the world; it's so important that it requires us to be kept secret from everyone," she said.

"But...why?"

Jack gave it a try next. "Because if everyone knew about our special powers, it would cause trouble," he said.

"I don't fly just to take you to school, right?" Claire said with a smile.

Lex nodded. "And Daddy makes snow..."

"So that all the children in the world can be happy," Claire finished, tapping her on the nose. "So will you help us keep the secret?"

Lex nodded vigorously, excited to be entrusted with such an important task.

-((the next day))-

Claire returned from dropping a nervous Lex off at Uncle Michael's house, anxious as to how her baby's first day of school was going to go. She was so preoccupied that when she walked through the front door of the house, she was completely taken off-guard when Jack pressed her against the shut door in a whirl of winter, insistently pressing his lips and his body against hers.

((here's that **lemon**))

"Jack," Claire asked between kisses, "What's-"

"Lex can't have a nightmare when she's at school, right?" Jack said with a sly grin before hooking his arms behind Claire's thighs, lifting her up so she was pressed between him and the door, legs wrapped firmly around his hips.

"You're incorrigible," Claire said before wrapping a hand in Jack's frosty hair, pulling his lips down to hers. Jack ran his tongue across the edge of her lip, making her shiver before she opened her mouth to his, tongue moving against his in a familiar dance. Jack, wanting to use his hands, moved away from the door and flew up the stairs, faltering in the doorway as Claire reached down to cup his manhood through his jeans. His shoulder blade slammed into the side of the door frame before he dropped Claire's legs to the ground. However, Jack took no notice of any pain as Claire firmly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, bringing her body flush against him as she ground her hips into his. In one final burst of wind Claire and Jack found themselves entwined on the bed, Claire's jacket and camisole mysteriously already on the floor.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Impatient are we?" Jack didn't even respond before again bringing his lips down to hers, absently kneading a breast with one hand as the other undid the buttons of her jeans. Claire moaned impatiently, arching her back so she could reach behind her and undo the clasps of her bra. The straps relaxed, and Claire slid them off her shoulders. Bare to his view, Jack wasted no time in worshiping her chest, kissing between the valley of her breasts as he teased and pinched her breasts. Moaning, Claire's hands migrated to Jack's hips, tucking underneath his hoodie to slowly slide the article of clothing up his body. With part of his chest bare to her view, Claire wasted no time tracing intricate patterns over his abdomen before hooking a finger in his belt loop to pull him closer.

"No...fair," Claire moaned, tugging again at Jack's hoodie. Jack stopped for an instant to pull the offending garment over his head before kissing her lips fervently. Claire was already unbuttoning Jack's jeans, unable to keep herself from grinding against him. Jack wrenched his lips from hers, soft groans growing louder and louder before he pinned her hips to the bed, panting.

"You're going to kill me like that, Claire," he said, panting.

Claire grin was unrepentant. "I know, Frost. Aren't you going to punish me?" she said with a wink, already tugging down his boxers and jeans.

Jack groaned, following suit by pulling her jeans completely off of her body, discarding them to the floor. Kicking his own off the rest of the way, Jack crawled back up Claire's body to kiss her passionately, bringing one hand up to caress her side while he used the other to press softly against her through her panties. Claire moaned, pressing down against his hand, but Jack pinned her hips in place, continuing his light caresses. When Claire's bucking grew more insistent, he used both hands to hold her in place as he rubbed his manhood up against her now soaked panties.

Claire groaned loudly, completely lost in Jack's ministrations. "J-Jack," she moaned, pulling his face down to her to kiss him hard. "I-If you don't-"

"Way ahead of you," he panted, pulling her panties down her legs and dropping them on the floor. He lay over her, propping himself up on his elbows before lining himself up at her entrance. He paused, running a hand through her hair tenderly.

"I love you, Claire," he said, kissing her tenderly.

"I love you too Jack," he said, wrapping her arms around his shoulder blades, "but if you don't-"

Claire's threat died in her mouth as Jack's hips snapped forward, pushing himself fully inside her. Claire wasted no time in matching her pace with his, moving together in a slowly building rhythm. The two moved against each other, caresses become more errant and erratic as the tension built. Soon, Claire saw stars before crying out, digging her nails into Jack's shoulders. Jack couldn't take the added pressure, and he soon followed, spilling himself into her. He collapsed on top of her for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He lifted his head, kissing Claire deeply.

"I..." Jack started, not quite sure what he was going to say.

"Yeah," Claire agreed, wrapping her arms around him in a tender embrace. Jack shifted so his weight lay next to her, and the two held each other, dozing lightly in the late morning sunlight.

((here's the **end** of that **lemon**)))

A few hours later, Claire rolled out of bed and started to dress. Jack protested the loss of warmth, reaching out for her so she would return to bed.

"It's time to go pick up Lex, Jack," she said with a smile. "Do you want to go together?"

Jack rolled out of bed and rummaged around for his clothes. "Sure," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "let's go see how the little Squirt did on her first day," he added with an affectionate wink.

"Soon there'll be homework to help her with, and loads of school stories to hear about, not to mention packing lunches-"

Jack cut her off with a loving kiss on the lips. "One day at a time right?"

Claire smiled happily. "Right."

And so the years continued, but every so often, the nightmares would continue to persist...

-((To be Continued!))-

Hoo! That was an adventure. This'll sound weird, but I don't think I've ever written a straight lemon before. I didn't want it to get _too_ graphic, so please let me know what you think!

This one was only a sort of cliffhanger right? :p

~freaky-hanyou


	6. Watch Out For Adolescence

Hi! Sorry this took a while; my family and I went on vacation, and I considered it kinder to wait until after we returned to update. You might not agree but...trust me, you'll agree ;)

Thank you so much for your wonderful favorites and my favorite, reviews! Thank you xInfinitex, why yes we will be having_ quite _the time jump in this chapter. I could focus more on their daily life or Lex's life with school, but I would rather focus on Jack/Claire's portion of the action. So, to any who are wondering, that's why I skipped so much time; more drama/romance less family of a genre.

Also thank you to rockandmetal101 for your review! That was my first non-yaoi lemon, so I'm very glad to hear that you liked it! :)

And now what you've all been waiting for...

**The Fall**

_Chapter Five: Watch Out for Adolescence_

-((_Ten Years Later_))-

_Lex was smiling and laughing happily with a group of her friends, enjoying their day off from school. Her longtime crush played frisbee nearby the picnic table her friends were sitting at, joking with his partner in the game. Lex stood abruptly to go talk to him, nervous tucking her long blonde hair behind an ear. She took a step towards him-_

_Suddenly, the ground beneath her cracked and she was falling into darkness, wind whistling past her-_

_The whistle morphed and dropped octaves to become a low whistle from a human-a man. "Wow," an unknown voice said, "that's quite a long _drop-!"

"Lex!"

Lex Archer jolted awake, shooting up in bed. "What-?" she whispered, confused, barely awake.

"Lex!" her mother called up the stairs again, "It's time for school! What do you want for breakfast?"

Lex's consciousness immediately latched on to the present, suppressing any new memories she had of the nightmare. She ran a hand through her bedhead, shaking herself to become more awake. She rolled out of bed and was already focused on breakfast, easily forgetting about the subtle difference between this nightmare and countless others.

Subtle, but important.

"Coming!" Lex yelled, already out her bedroom door.

-((fastforward))-

Lex kissed her father on the cheek, and with a 'See ya Squirt,' Lex found herself grasping her mother's shoulders as they took to the skies, heading to Uncle Michael's for another day of high school two states away.

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence during the journey. Lex tried to remember wha she dreamed about that night. _I was trying to talk to Jeremy, _she mused, blushing slightly as she thought about her crush. _I wish I could see him more. If I could invite my friends over sometimes, maybe he would notice me more and get to know me better, and we could-_

"Heads up!" Claire called as she ducked around some clouds, making sure Lex was still holding on tightly. "It's getting a lot more difficult to do this, with you getting so big," Claire joked.

"Maybe we don't have to," Lex said hesitantly, voicing her thoughts. "Do you think we could...move a little closer to Uncle Michael? Say, the same state maybe?"

Claire hesitated, unable to think of a response that wouldn't dash her daughter's hopes. "Lex..." she started, "you know how much I wish we could, but your Dad and I have no way to pay bills, or even be _seen_ by most people-" She broke off, trying to turn her head so she could see Lex. "I'm sorry," she said, reaching up to grasp Lex's hand. "I know it's so much harder now that you're in high school-"

"No, you _don't_ know!" Lex replied fiercely, "It's not fair!"

"What?" Claire responded, shocked at Lex's outburst. In the past few years, she'd turned into a typical moody teenager, but she was never angry about this. Not about their family.

"It's not fair that I can't have any friends over, or have a sleepover, or a birthday party, or even time to study with a friend! I can't go out for any sports, or extra activities because we live so far away!" She laughed bitterly. "Even if we _did_ live near my school, I _still _probably couldn't have anyone over because they wouldn't even be able to see you!" She unconsciously gripped Claire's shoulders tightly, letting out her sudden angst and frustration. "I just wish that I could have a normal high school experience...with a _normal _family."

At that moment, the two arrived at the back door of Michael's house. Claire touched down on the ground, and Lex let go of her shoulders. Claire continued facing away from her daughter, eyes locked straight ahead on the door.

She steadied herself, taking a quiet breath. "Have a good day at school," she said, determinedly keeping the hurt out of her slightly-quavering voice as she took to the sky.

Lex looked up, slightly confused as her mom took off abruptly, replaying everything that she had just said. _What have I done? _she thought, stricken. _I want to be near my friends, but that doesn't mean I want a new _mother-

Her thoughts cut off as her older cousin Sophie opened the back door, dragging her inside. "Get in here Lex, or I'm leaving for school without you," she joked. Sophie failed to notice her cousin's panicked expression as she chattered at her all the way to the car.

It was going to be a horrible day at school.

-((Meanwhile))-

Jack looked up from his borrowed newspaper as he heard the door shut. "Claire," he said, preoccupied, "the Northeast forecasts some slight flurries today, but since it's already November I figured we could surprise them and-Claire?" he paused in his plans as she stood in front of him, meeting his questioning eyes. Suddenly, her knees gave out, and she collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed with tears.

Jack knelt by her side in an instant, immediately wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Claire?" he asked again, "What happened?"

Claire told him everything Lex had said to her in anger through her tears. Jack slowly pulled Claire over to the couch, wrapping his arms even more tightly around her. The two sat in silence for a while as Claire's cries dissolved into small hiccups.

"Well," Jack said in a grave tone, "It sounds like we have an important decision to make."

-((fastforward))-

Lex gripped Claire's shoulders tightly through the long, tense flight home. Claire didn't say anything when she came to pick her up late that afternoon; she simply smiled slightly and offered her back for the ride home. Lex fought against the urge to apologize, to say anything until the two were home and she could address her parents together and emphasize that she was just being crazy, that she loved them and was proud of her family-

Lex's thoughts derailed as they suddenly touched down at home. A wave of nervousness engulfed her as Claire took her hand, gently pulling her into the house, to the living room where Jack waited for them on the couch, a serious expression on his face.

Lex sat down next to him, and Claire sat in the chair next to her side of the couch. Lex's anxiety spilled over when Claire reached over and took her hand, smiling with unshed tears in her eyes.

"About what I said earlier-" Lex started, but Claire cut her off.

"Lex...I know that we are the definition of an unconventional family, and I'm sorry you've had to pay the price for it."

"I know," Lex tried again, "but it's okay-"

"We've decided that we're going to find a way for someone to legally adopt you," Claire continued. "That way, you will be able to see your friends outside of school and have the normal high school experience that you really want."

Lex froze, staring at her mother and father in shock. _Leave? _she thought, mind racing at the possibilities. She paused, momentarily thinking about all that she could gain: she could do whatever she wanted at school; she'd be able to tell everyone the truth about what her parents did for a living; she could have cable and the Internet at her home, not to mention all the friends she could have over-

She stopped, suddenly overwhelmed by all she would have to give up: flights to school with her mother; secret night trips with her father to any country she could think of; family trips to anywhere in the world; nightly mischief around the country where Dad would cause mayhem, and Mom would scold him with an impish glint in her eye-

"But that's not what I want," Lex said finally, looking her parents in the eyes. "Why would I need to be adopted again when I already was? You saved my life and the thanks I give you is a slap in the face. I-"

Lex was cut off as Claire moved to the couch, hugging her tightly. She kissed Lex on the forehead, closing her eyes in silent relief. Jack reached over and wrapped an arm around the both of them. "I love you," Lex said softly, holding them both tightly.

"We love you too dear," Claire replied, savoring the moment. The family sat together for a long moment, until the silence was broken by a rumble from Lex's stomach.

Claire pulled away, chuckling slightly. "It is about time for dinner, isn't it?" she said standing and quickly wiping a stray tear away, "How about I make some spaghetti? A family favorite to celebrate..." she trailed off as she headed into the kitchen to start cooking.

"Ooh," Jack said, "You know you rate when Mom's making spaghetti," he continued with a squeeze of Lex's shoulders. "You're sure about this? Don't feel guilty; we want to give you anything you want...and I mean anything," Jack emphasized.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Lex said, kissing Jack on the cheek before standing up. "I have the best family I could ever ask for," she said with a smile. "I'm going to water the plants before I see if Mom needs a hand," she continued as she headed for the door.

"Bring in some good tomatoes!" Jack called after her before the door shut.

Lex chuckled as she headed to the greenhouse, contentedly filled with love for her family. She headed for the corner of the greenhouse where the gardening supplies were kept, reaching for the watering can. _My unusual family life can make life difficult sometimes, _Lex mused as she moved through the greenhouse, _but it also makes it better than anything I could have ever asked for._

"How sentimental," came a sneering voice from the shadows, "What a happy family."

Lex spun immediately towards the voice, confused and slightly concerned that a stranger was in the greenhouse. A pale figure wearing a shadowy black cloak emerged from the darkness, a wide smirk on his face.

"Who are you?" Lex accused, concern growing quickly.

"My voice doesn't sound familiar?" the man said, sounding slightly affronted. When Lex narrowed her eyes in confusion, he 'tsked' before turning away slightly. "No matter, you'll remember..."

"What?"

The man chuckled. "My my, your parents haven't done a very good job protecting you, have they?" he said, taking a step closer.

Lex instinctively took a step back. "What do you mean?"

The man saw her wary expression, and his grin grew wider. "Don't worry girl, I'm not going to hurt you...yet. You see, your parents never warned you who could be responsible for your nightmares, did they?"

"What do you mean, 'who?'" Lex asked, confused. Suddenly, her legs were engulfed in black sand, and she was falling, falling-

_That's quite a long drop-!_

Lex panted harshly, kneeling on the ground on hands and knees as the familiar shock of her nightmares returned. The man stood over her, chuckling.

She looked up at him. "How did you-?"

"Nightmares are my primary job description, you could say," the man said, leaning down to whisper into her ear, "What better way to remember the last day you saw your real mother and father?"

Lex shuddered, shying away from the man. "But...I don't remem-" Lex was suddenly overwhelmed by a flash of memory: a smiling man and a kind-faced woman before an ear-splitting crack and rushing wind-

The man grinned as Lex sunk lower to the ground, gripping her head at the sudden onslaught of memories and unexpected pain. "You could remember," he said. "You just don't want to remember falling 300 feet to your near death. Who would want to remember that? Now-"

"Lex?" Lex heard her mother's voice coming from the front of the greenhouse. Claire turned the corner, gasping in complete surprise at the scene before her.

"Sorry to cut the reunion short," Pitch said with a wry grin. Suddenly, Claire was pelted with an overwhelming wave of black sand, slamming her into the greenhouse wall, jamming her shoulder before crashing to the ground. Pitch enveloped Lex in a whirl of sand, gripping her by the arm as he swooped past Claire.

"See you at the top!" he called behind him as the two disappeared.

Claire stumbled out to the front of the greenhouse, panic growing exponentially as she fell to her knees, gripping her shoulder.

"_Jack!_"

-((To Be Continued!))-

It's time to kick things up a notch. OHman. Let me know what you think!

::evil grin::

R&R!

~freaky-hanyou


	7. The Whole Story

Hihi. It's quite late, and I have to get up tomorrow, but I really can't resist writing one of the best parts! So, THANK YOU for all your wonderful favorites, and the most special thank you of all to Dominosowner, xInfinitex, and my old friend Zesty for your awesomely awesome reviews! For you, I will put an end to this particular cliffhanger's misery.

::mysterious smile::

**The Fall**

_Chapter Six: The Whole Story_

In an instant, Claire and Jack arrived at the top of the cliff above their home. The pain from Claire's dislocated shoulder didn't even register at the sight of her child in the hated arms of their worst enemy, Pitch Black.

Pitch leered at the pair across from him with an evil grin, snaking black sand around Lex's arms, legs, and neck to further bind her next to him. The black sand rooted her to the ground, and the more she tried to struggle against it, the more firmly she was held in place.

"Give her back, Pitch!" Jack snarled fiercely, taking a step toward him with staff in hand. Instantly, a tendril of black sand formed a jagged dagger that rested its point on Lex's temple. Jack hesitated, lingering by Claire.

"Now come on Jack, you know how this works," Pitch said placatingly, "You stay over there, or she dies. Simple enough for you?"

"What do you want, Pitch?" Claire asked quietly, calmly. Jack registered her seeming lack of panic, and looked over at her in confusion. Claire's panic had transformed into a quiet determination, a frightening resolve that Jack had never seen before. Claire's power seemed to be emanating in waves, and yet the wind atop the cliff remained a deceptively warm and gentle breeze.

Pitch, expecting this, didn't even react to her. In fact, he completely ignored her question all together, saying "This really is a beautiful area." Pitch grinned, circling Lex slowly, "It really is the perfect place to settle down...pity that this area was declared structurally unsound all those years ago..." he came to stand next to Lex again, deceptively resting a hand gently on her head, "It was so much fun to push your daughter off the edge."

The words fell between them like a bomb. All three of them froze in varying degrees of shock. "What did you say?" Claire said, the first one to respond.

"I said," Pitch repeated, "I _pushed her off the edge!_" At this shout, he pushed Lex's head roughly forward, and the black sand obeyed, viciously pulling Lex down to within centimeters of slamming into the ground, as if she was falling all over again.

At the sudden movement, Lex's scream was cut off by an onslaught of memories-

_She stood at the cliff's edge and heard an ear-splitting crack-_

_But no, the ear splitting crack was caused by the strange black sand she found piled on the edge of the cliff-_

_Then she was falling, wind rushing past before a black mass struck her from the branches on the cliffside-_

_Darkness._

Lex gasped, panting heavily as she was brought back up to eye-level, standing straight up in the black sand again. "It was you," she said in a harsh whisper, comprehension evident in her eyes.

"It was the perfect revenge!" Pitch exclaimed, clearly overwhelmed with the brilliance of his own plan. He leveled his sharp eyes on Claire. "You were foolish to think that I haven't been watching you from the shadows for years, that I wouldn't notice how you longed for a child. All it took was for me to provide you one and lull you into a semblance of security, that yes, the child is yours and no one could tear you apart..." Pitch's small smirk turned into one of pure evil as he continued, "and then I would _crush _that dream and turn it into well...you know the rest," he said with a flourish of his hand, forming the dagger again and bringing it up to Lex's temple with alarming speed-

"_NO!_" Claire screamed as the dagger stopped a millimeter before it cut into Lex's skin.

"Of course," he said calmly, locking his hands behind his back and turning away from Lex to look at the couple again, "This particular form of revenge would still be too simple for my tastes," he said, gaze falling onto Jack this time. "I will give you back your daughter, if..."

"What, Pitch," Jack ground out, clearly at the end of his restraint.

"You must kill Claire, or your daughter dies."

Silence. For once, Jack was speechless as he stared unmoving at Pitch. He continued to stare, uncomprehending for another moment, until his eyes darkened to the frostiest steel-

"Never, _you bastard-_" Jack cried out before sending a jet of pure ice hurtling in his direction. Pitch dodged it effortlessly, but in the next instant the dagger rest against Lex's neck, drawing a small trail of blood. Lex whimpered, and the fire instantly drained from Jack's eyes. He gave a loud cry of frustration, closing his eyes.

"Do it," Claire whispered next to him quietly.

Jack's eyes shot open, staring at her incredulously. "What-?"

"You heard me," Claire said in that same tone of calm determination, "I said do it."

"It's not like you haven't done it before," Pitch couldn't resist pointing out, "except this time I'm hoping for some more..._permanent _results," he said with a leer.

This only served to add to Jack's angst and confusion as he turned to his wife, "Claire...you know I can't-"

"I said _DO IT!_" Claire yelled, and a sudden jet burst of wind shot from her in all directions, nearly knocking both Pitch and Jack off their feet.

Jack regained his balance and stared at her in disbelief and more than a little hurt. "Claire...?"

Suddenly, Claire turned to face him, revealing all the anguish and turmoil in her eyes. "It's the only way Jack," she pleaded, "We have no choice."

"But-"

"As touching as this is," Pitch interjected, "I would appreciate it if my years of planning and waiting came to fruition within...the next five seconds," he said, holding up his fingers.

"Five."

"Claire, I love you both, you can't expect me to go through with this-"

"Four."

"We don't have a choice Frost, so just hurry the hell up and do it-"

"Three."

"There has to be another way-"

"Two."

"_Jack-_"

"_One._"

"_Do it!_" Claire screamed as she saw the dagger begin to move against her daughter's throat. In the next instant, she heard a battle cry from her husband as she felt a searing cold against her legs; she recoiled from the impact, but was stuck to the ground and unable to fall.

_I feel...cold..._

"Took you long enough Frost," Pitch said, halting the killing blow to Lex, who was unable to process what was happening clearly; she stared, unseeing, at her mother, legs frozen to the ground, and her father, who had fallen to his hands and knees on the ground, clearly in shock.

"You do realize that Claire is still alive?" Pitch said, slightly confused as to why Jack was so upset. "Technically, I should kill L-"

"She'll be dead in less than a minute," Jack explained in an anguished voice, cutting him off as he continued to stare in disbelief at the ground in front of him, "The ice surrounding her legs has special properties. It will continue to grow until it covers her entire body, upon which time she will freeze and suffocate to death. The only power strong enough to break the ice would be yours or my _own,_" he said, voice cracking on the final word as reality continued to set in.

"Bravo, Frost," Pitch said with a snap of his fingers, freeing Lex from the sand, "I never knew you could be so...evil," he said with a wide smile. "However, a deal's a deal. Your daughter is free."

Lex stumbled once she was free to move again, before sprinting towards her mother. In a whirl of flurries, Lex found herself safely in Jack's arms, away from both Claire and Pitch.

"No Lex," he whispered into her ear, "You can't touch her or you'll be affected by it too."

"How could you do this?!" Lex cried, fighting against her Dad's grip, "How could you-"

"It's going to be alright dear," Claire said, watching as the ice continued to crawl up her torso, "You'll be safe-"

"That's not _good enough!_" she screamed, finally freeing herself from Jack's hold before falling to her knees, overwhelmed with tears. "You have to be safe too," she said, trying to wipe her eyes.

"Your safety is more important," Claire tried to explain calmly, "We need to keep you safe from this monster," she said, gesturing to Pitch with her head, as the ice had begun to crawl up her arms.

_He's a monster...a cold-hearted, unfeeling-wait a second..._Lex thought, mind working rapidly. With a newfound calm, she slowly stood before gripping her father's hand and squeezing it tightly. He looked at her in confusion, and she winked at him before letting him go, stepping towards the monster.

"She's right you know," Lex said with a newfound confidence, "You are a monster."

"Jack, stop her," Claire said quickly, but Jack simply narrowed his eyes in confusion, unable to see what his daughter was planning.

"I try my best to put fear into the hearts of thousands," Pitch stated, "Being a monster simply comes with the territory."

Lex tried another tactic. "I'm not afraid of you," she said, squaring her shoulders as she come to a halt between Claire and Pitch, "I was never afraid of you and will never be afraid of you!" she shouted.

Pitch raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" he said, and in a shadowy instant, Lex's mind was clouded with everything she'd ever feared-

_Coming home to an empty house; her mother and father abandoned her completely-_

_Jack and Claire's identities are revealed; Lex is forced to leave them, her school, and everything behind to be questioned mercilessly about "The Guardians"-_

_Falling, always falling, before-_

_"NO!"_ Lex screamed, shaking herself out of the hellish nightmares. "I'm not afraid of you," she ground out, panting.

"Jack, stop her!" Claire cried out before the ice covered her mouth, silencing her forever. Jack took a panicked step forward, before-

"You know," Pitch pointed out, standing squarely in front of her, "You're terribly annoying. And I've decided that the perfect punishment for _you,_" he said, looking over to Jack, "is to be alone forever. So I might as well kill her too," he said before shooting a flourish of sand spears at Lex just as Claire was sealed completely into her icy grave.

"_NO-"_ Jack shouted as Lex cried out in a loud battle cry, using every ounce of strength she had to leap out of the way of his attack. The sand flew straight over her head, dark jets colliding with Claire's icy prison, causing the ice to crack and shatter. In the next instant, a loud explosion was heard as small shards of ice flew in every direction, knocking both Jack and Pitch off their feet as Claire was freed from the ice. Lex felt a rush of wind engulf her from the explosion, and she found herself whisked off her feet...

And soon she was falling, _falling-_

Jack quickly regained his footing, rushing over to Claire's side as she lay unconscious on the ground. His panic mounted as he looked around frantically for Lex, unable to find her. Pitch, having also regained his footing, disappeared over the edge of the cliff, saying, "An even more appropriate death for your daughter..."

Jack's eyes widened in fear and he turned towards the cliff, aiming to soar over and save Lex. However, he found that he was unable to fly more than a few feet off the ground. Unable to save her.

He turned to Claire, trying to shake her awake. "Claire, you have to let me fly! Claire, you can't be dead! Wake up! _Wake up!_"

-((To Be Continued!))-

SNAP. I'm really sorry guys. If I wasn't me, I would be very mad at me.

How can we solve this dilemma?

R&R!

~freaky-hanyou


	8. A Battle Between Cold and Dark

Happy Independence Day, any Americans out there! Lucky for everyone involved, I have a strange tradition where I update something every 4th of July (at least, I have most of the years I've been doing this .)

So, without much ado, let's get on with the action! Thankyouthankyouthankyou Dominosowner, xInfinitex, and Zesty!

And now, and end to the turmoil (?)

**The Fall**

_Chapter Seven: A Battle Between Cold and Dark_

_...you can't be dead! Wake up! _Wake up!

Claire stirred slightly as Jack continued to shake her with growing urgency. Everything hurt, and she wasn't completely sure why. She struggled to open her eyes, groaning at the needles of pain that seemed to be stinging her everywhere on her body.

"Claire!" Jack exclaimed, seeing her eyes raise slightly. His own eyes pricked with tears in relief, but his voice continue to rise in panic as he tried to gain her attention. "Claire, listen to me!" he continued, and her eyes finally opened.

"W-What?" she said, voice strained and gravelly, "Where-"

"There's no time!" Jack said, cutting her off, "You have to let me fly!"

"Okay," Claire said, and for an instant Jack felt himself free to fly completely away from the ground. However, at that moment, Claire's eyes started to droop again, and he felt himself slowly losing his ability to fly again as she drifted towards unconsciousness.

He shook her lightly again, jostling her awake. "Claire, it is _extremely_ important that you stay awake right now," he explained, gently helping her sit up. "I'll explain in a minute," he said letting go and taking to the sky once he saw her semi-alert and looking clearly at him, "Stay awake!" he emphasized again before tearing off in a burst of speed, nose diving to the base of the cliff where Lex was soon to meet a disastrous fate.

-((Meanwhile))-

Lex couldn't help screaming as she continued to freefall down the cliff. She closed her eyes for the first few seconds, praying that her father would soon arrive and save her, but something was wrong, he wasn't coming soon enough...

_Mom's okay...He'll save me, _Lex thought in a rush as the ground grew closer and closer, approaching at lightning speed-

Just before Lex hit the river, she felt her speed lessen drastically, and felt the warm, secure arms of her father surround her. Lex couldn't stop the tears as the two flew away from the dangerous waters towards safety and her mother.

"Shhh, it'll be alright," Jack whispered softly, holding her close as his own tears began to silently fall, "You're _safe-_"

At that instant, Jack's powers of flight suddenly gave out, and the two were once again hurtling towards the base of the cliff-

"_CLAIRE!_" Jack yelled as Lex started screaming again...

-((Rewind a little bit))-

A moment after Jack disappeared, a disoriented Claire laid down again, trying to remember why she was in so much pain.

_I'm sure I'd feel better if I just...rest..._she thought absently, closing her eyes again as she blissfully fell unconscious again.

_CLAIRE!_

Claire snapped awake, confused as to why Jack sounded so _panicked-_

All at once, her memories of recent events came rushing back at her, and the significance of Lex's absence and why Jack needed to fly fully sank in. "_Jack! Lex!" _she screamed in panic, hurriedly allowing Jack any and all use of the wind. Ignoring her aching body, she pulled herself the few feet over to the edge of the cliff, anxiously looking for any sign of them nearby. Her terror intensified as she searched, seeing nothing but the foggy mists produced by the twin waterfalls. Unable to wait an instant longer, Claire painfully summoned a gentle breeze to carry her down to the base of the cliff. Once the mists lessened, Claire cried out in relief as she saw Jack and Lex huddled together near the riverside.

Jack smiled at her softly over Lex's head. "We figured it would be safer to wait down here, given your condition," he said with a small grin, and as she landed next to them, he wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders, bringing her into their comforting familial embrace.

"I thought I'd lost you both," Claire admitted as she squeezed the two tightly.

"I could say the same," Jack said only half jokingly, kissing Claire's cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm-"

"Well this is cute. Utterly nauseating, but cute."

Jack leapt up and in front of Claire and Lex upon seeing Pitch emerge from the shadows of the waterfalls in the evening sun.

Pitch chuckled as the wintry spirit took a protective stance. "Come on Jack, you didn't think I'd just give up, did you?" Jack simply narrowed his frosty eyes, deepening his battle stance. At this, Pitch laughed aloud before sending a fantastic array of sandy spears at his opponent. With a swing of his staff, Jack sent them all careening in different directions, spiraling away from his family. In the same motion, he shot an ice lance straight at Pitch, who effortlessly dodged, moving in an instant to another shadow to the side.

"You never change do you?" Pitch said seriously, summoning his dark scythe. "Why don't you just be a good little guardian and get out of the _way-_" he exclaimed, emphasizing his words with a sideways swipe of the blade meant for all three of them-

In an instant, Jack moved, using a strong shield of ice to stop the blade in its tracks. "Not on your life," he ground out, and with the cracking of ice the two sprung away from each other, engaging in combat.

Claire, poignantly remembering how her presence partly led to Jack's downfall the very first time she saw the two fight, turned to Lex and wrapped an arm tightly around her. "We're going to get out of his way at the top," she explained quietly, "This is going to be quick, quicker than I've ever flown with you before," she tried not to wince as Lex gripped her even tighter. "On the count of three. One, two, _three!"_

Claire and Lex were off like a gunshot, speedily shooting straight up into the air towards the top of the cliff, hoping to become one less thing Jack had to worry about. Unfortunately, Claire's weakness slowed her down slightly, and Pitch, noticing their rapid ascent, changed targets and sent thousands of thin, black needles hurtling in their direction. Claire, unable to make up for the difference in speed, turned so she would take the hit as the two continued to climb. However, the instant before contact, Jack appeared between the pair and the needles, spinning his staff like a baton to cause the needles to drop harmlessly. Jack then shot forward in the air with a burst of speed to engage Pitch as Claire all but collapsed at the top with Lex safely sitting beside her.

"Mom, are you alright?" Lex said, looking closely at her mother for injuries now that the two seemed to have a semi-spare moment to talk. She was covered in bruises and more than a little frostbite, and there were nasty gashes on her ankles from where the initial impact of the ice occurred. Lex gasped, inspecting the lacerations in concern. "Mom, this is-"

"I'm fine," Claire said in a tone that brooked no argument. Trying not to wince for her daughter's benefit, Claire turned to watch the fight beyond the misty riverside, staying alert should something happen and she need to help.

At the base of the cliff, Jack found himself dueling Pitch using an icy broadsword; the wide surface area of th blade protected Jack from heavy scythe blows. However, the ice was slowly chipping away with each hit, and Jack needed a new tactic. As Pitch pulled back for another swing, Jack dropped the sword, and taking his staff in two hands, swung it like a baseball bat to produce a huge burst of frost-bitten air, knocking Pitch back several yards. In the small moment Pitch was disoriented, Jack leapt into the air with a fierce cry, sweeping his staff downward rapidly midair to shoot a blast of jagged icicles at Pitch. Pitch dropped his scythe and rolled out of the way, but a swatch of icicles struck his leg. In the next instant, Pitch appeared, panting, in a bank of shadows to Jack's right.

"Very good, Jack," Pitch said with a grin, "It seems you've gotten better." In the next instant, Pitch appeared in shadows at the base of the cliff. "But you're still stupid."

As Pitch disappeared, no doubt now on the top of the cliff, Jack realized how far away he was from the cliffside; clearly Pitch had maneuvered their battle as far away from the cliff as possible. "Dammit," he cursed as he took off towards the top of the cliff.

-((Meanwhile))-

The moment Pitch disappeared from her field of vision and into the mists directly below, Claire knew what was coming.

"Lex, get down," Claire said calmly as she got to her feet, taking a ready stance.

Lex hesitated, confused for a second until she saw the dark scythe appear out of nowhere, aiming for her mother's head. Lex ducked down as low as possible as Claire raised both hands, sending a jetstream of air rushing at Pitch, knocking the scythe away.

"You picked the wrong mom to mess with," Claire said darkly, taking a few steps in front of Lex, but not far enough away that Pitch could get behind her.

Pitch laughed heartlessly. "You're not her mother; you're-" Pitch was abruptly cut off as Claire used both hands to send rapid jetstreams at Pitch, firing off one after the other. "Stay...away..." Claire said, emphasizing each word with a burst of wind, "from...my..._baby!_" Claire cried, using both hands to send the final blow. Jack arrived at Claire's side just in time to see Pitch hurtle into a tree. Claire heard a loud cracking sound, and she knew it wasn't the tree as Pitch limped forward, approaching them with a more pronounced weakness.

"Want more?" Claire said, eyebrow raised as Pitch approached. In the next instant, Pitch stood directly in front of her, transported using her own shadow.

"You're still a stupid little girl," Pitch sneered quietly before stabbing her in the gut with a sandy blade. Claire made a choking noise and fell to a knee as Pitch raised an arm to make the final blow. Lex screamed in terror, and several things happened at once. Claire, regaining her senses, used two fingers to send two small jetstreams directly into Pitch's eyes, blinding him. A millisecond later, Jack sent an overwhelming wave of deadly icicles directly into Pitch's collarbone. Thrown back by impact, Pitch stumbled before turning to blindly run towards the shadow of the nearby forest.

"This isn't over!" Pitch yelled over his shoulder as he ran into picnic tables, aiming for the trees and their welcoming darkness.

"Oh yes it is," Claire replied, gripping her stomach and darting after him before Jack could even make a comment. Claire was able to keep up with Pitch for a few moments, ducking and dodging branches as the now partially-blinded and severely disoriented Pitch made his way forward in the shadows. Adrenaline rushing, Claire was able to land a few more shots before Pitch laughed evilly and disappeared.

"We'll meet again, little girl, you can count on it," echoed back to her through the trees.

Claire landed in the middle of the forest, frustrated. "Damn him," she cursed as the events of the day began to take their toll, and Claire sunk to the base of a tree, unable to move anymore.

Keeping pressure on her stab wound, she took several deep breaths. "Jack," she said, "Pitch is gone, but I don't have any energy to get back. Come get me?" she waited patiently, and sure enough, in a few moments she was able to see his silver hair poking through the trees. "I know what you're going to say; I shouldn't have done that in my condition, that it was too dangerous, and you're probably right but-" Claire stopped, seeing Jack's grave expression. "What's wrong?"

"A police car showed up at the cliffside. They took Lex."

-((To Be Continued!))-

Ohhhhhhhhhhnoooooooooooooooooooooooo~

Review please :D

~freaky-hanyou


	9. No Need to Google This One

Hello everyone! It appears I am slacking; I'm losing my motivation. Luckily, the end is in sight! At most there'll be three more chapters, but I'm not quite sure yet. But I already have in mind another oneshot for Jack and Claire...but more on that later!

Thanks Dominosowner & Zesty for your reviews! I really, _really_, love feedback. :D

Let's do this!

**The Fall**

_Chapter Eight: No Need to Google This One_

As soon as Jack scooped Claire up into his arms, Claire started to interrogate him on what happened immediately. However, the instant she laid her head against his solid chest, she was overcome by an overwhelming sense of exhaustion and fatigue.

"Jack...what..." was the only sort of question that left her as her body finally lost all of its adrenaline, and she succumbed to the beckoning darkness.

Jack quickened his pace the instant Claire passed out. "That can't be good," he murmured, using the arm wrapped underneath the lower half of her body to press against her stab wound the best he could.

_The sooner I can stabilize her, the better. For both her and Lex's sake._

-((Meanwhile))-

_OhgodOhgodOhgodOhgod,_ Lex repeated in her head, trying not to panic as the police car drove her to the hospital to care for her bruises, scrapes, and lacerations.

_Based on how I acted, _she thought with a wince,_ they probably want to give me a psychological examination too._ The moment the danger was almost over and her mother took off into the trees, Lex held her father tightly, crying in a state of relief and shock. At that moment, sirens blared as a police car came into view.

Jack cursed vehemently, reluctantly letting go of his baby girl. "Lex," he said carefully, trying to get her to grasp the gravity of the situation. "I can't help you. They can't see me," he explained in a pained voice, "you're going to have to go with them."

"What?" Lex asked, panic blooming once again in her chest. "But...what do I say? How can I possibly-?"

Jack wrapped his arms around her again, and the combination of shock and terror to her system over and over again in a short amount of time took their toll. The two collapsed to the ground, Lex sobbing once again as Jack wrapped his arms back around her shaking form.

"Shhh," Jack soothed, stroking her hair, "You're going to be okay," he continued, watching as the two police officers cautiously approached the distraught girl alone on the cliff's edge, "We will find you. I promise." Frustrated tears formed at the corner of his eyes as he held his daughter tighter against the approaching police officers, "I promise, Squirt."

"It's _not_ going to be okay," she murmured despondently, overwhelmed by the shocking and trying current events, "How can you say that?"

"Miss?" a middle-aged female officer said, approaching the shaking girl slowly. "Are you alright? There were reports of screaming in the vicinity..." She squatted down in front of Lex, and Jack reluctantly pulled back away from Lex, repeating his promise.

"You'll never be able to find me," she whispered eyes locked with Jack's.

"We're right here," the officer said, a hand on her shoulder as she helped Lex up. "Let's get you somewhere safe; this cliff has been unsound for years you know..."

And now she found herself in a hospital bed with minor stitches, anxiously awaiting the police interview. The kindly female officer from before approached with her shorter male partner as well as the nurse, standing next to her hospital bed.

"Miss," he female officer started, "You told this nurse your name is Lex Archer, correct?"

_Here we go,_ Lex thought, bracing herself. "Yes," she confirmed.

"But the only Lex Archer on record lives-"

"In Nevada," Lex finished, trying not to wince.

"But," the male officer asked incredulously, "How did you end up _here_? In a different state?"

Lex briefly tried to invent a way to explain the interstate travel. Giving up, she improvised, "We are on vacation, and I got _very_ very lost," she explained, ruefully rubbing her head.

Seeming to accept this answer for the moment, the female officer continued "Who are you on vacation with?"

"My dad," she said weakly. _This ruse can fall through at any moment..._

"Your father, Michael Archer, he adopted you correct?" the nurse asked. Lex nodded. "There is surprisingly little information about your birth parents in your medical file.." she continued, flipping through the papers, "Actually, there is _no_ medical information about your birth parents in this file. Not even their name," her eyes narrowed the tiniest fraction. "How is that possible?"

As the three adults stared at her, Lex closed her eyes and sighed. _I hope this works,_ she said, meeting the female officer's eyes. "He found me," she started to explain. "You see, ten years ago, I had an accident that took away my memory..."

-((Meanwhile))-

Claire shifted in her bed, mind foggy as she tried to open her eyes. Everything hurt, especially her stomach. She put a hand on the now-wrapped part of her belly. "Why do I keep waking up like this," she muttered, putting her other hand to her forehead as she was finally able to focus on Jack.

Jack was sitting next to her on their bed, running his hand through her hair. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I couldn't protect you very well..."

_Protect..._

"Lex!" Claire suddenly was on high alert, and she shot straight up in bed, wincing at the sudden lancing pain in her stomach. Jack pushed on her shoulder, and she allowed him to lay her back on the bed. "What happened," she asked, frustrated at her immobility.

"Someone reported the screaming," Jack explained, staring at a corner of the sheet, "the police came to check out the problem, and found a little girl rocking in a ball by herself at the top of the cliff. I couldn't even stop them," he finished, meeting her gaze with his frosty orbs flecked with turbulent emotions. "We _will_ find her Claire. At the very least, they'll find the name of her legal guardian and start there. We have a lead."

"Then let's go," Claire said, moving to get out of bed again.

"Claire!" Jack said, insistently keeping her lying down on the bed.

"Jaaack," she replied, mocking his protective tone. "I'm fine," she said, gesturing towards her wounds with an unimportant flourish, "Our baby is _not_ fine. She's scared, she's in pain, she just went through several near-death experiences, and now we're not there for her. We need to find her, _now._"

Claire started to move again as Jack all but shouted, "And you'll die from blood loss in the attempt!" Claire paused, looking at him in alarm.

"Claire," he said, trying again as he cupped her cheek with his hand, "It took me a while to stop the bleeding. It's a miracle that blade didn't go any deeper; if it did-" he stopped, taking a moment to work the catch out of his voice. "If it did," he said again seriously, "I don't think I would've been able to stop it."

For the first time since this ordeal began, Claire took a good look at her husband. At her terror-stricken, grief-ridden, guilt-bearing husband. She wrapped the hand that was cupping her cheek in her own. "Oh Jack-" she started, but he cut her off.

"I couldn't do anything," he said brokenly, morosely. "I wasn't able to protect you, to protect _either of you,_ again! If Lex hadn't been so quick-thinking-" He cut himself off, unable to finish his thought.

Claire rubbed her thumb over his hand, looking into his eyes. "Jack, we're safe; it's alright." She gripped his hand tightly. "You fought off Pitch and protected us from him today; I don't care what you say. You can't protect us against dirty tricks! The fool thought he could best us, and he was wrong." She smiled slightly. "We're a team Jack; we work together to defeat our foes, to protect our family. In this particular instance, I just happened to become the fall guy."

Jack let out a laugh despite himself. "We need to think of a new combat plan," he said, suddenly moving so he was lying next to her and she was wrapped in his tight embrace. "You should never have to make that sacrifice," he whispered.

Claire wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him as tightly to her as she could without upsetting her stomach. "We'll work on it," she replied, meaning it. There were a lot of open holes in their 'Protect Lex' strategy today. If Pitch were to strike again, they needed to have a plan prepared for when he tried to separate them and exploit their weaknesses.

"I love you," Jack said suddenly, kissing her tenderly.

"I love you too," Claire replied fervently, kissing him again. "We will _never_ be apart from each other." She pushed him back slightly, "But now we have to get our daughter."

Jack tried not to make a noise of frustration as he sat back up again. "No," he told her, "You need to rest. And I won't go find her alone, because if I did I know you'll just sneak out and follow me. Then you'll pass out somewhere and you'll make yourself worse!"

"Will not!" Claire protested petulantly.

"Yes you will."

"...Dammit, you're right," she said with a sigh. They've been together far too long for her to be able to trick _him_, the master of tricks.

"Three days," Jack said.

Claire snorted. "Are you crazy? One day."

"Two days."

"A day and a half."

"Fine," Jack relented, knowing that was probably the best he was going to get. "But I'm carrying you the entire way."

"If you insist," she said with a wink, and he nipped her cheek playfully.

After a moment of companionable silence, Claire grew serious again. "She's going to be alright, right Jack?"

Jack smiled, taking her hand in his. "I have no doubt in my mind Claire."

-((Exactly a day and a half later))-

As the two flew towards Michael's house, Claire nestled safely in Jack's arms, they could tell immediately something was off. Countless vans and people were parked outside the front of his house. The two cautiously landed in his backyard, entering through the back door.

"Michael?" Claire said softly as they moved slowly into the living room.

"Aunt Claire!" Michael explained, leaping off of the couch. "What happened?" he asked as he ran a hand through his hair in concern, "How did the police find Lex?" He was as concerned as if something had gone awry with his own daughter, who was currently up in her room, peeking out the window at the reporters.

"...It's a long story," Claire hedged, "I'll tell you in a bit. Where is she?" she asked, getting right to the point.

"Not here," Michael said, "Apparently Lex told the police about the original incident where she lost her memory. I had quite a time explaining to the police and the press how I managed to secretly find and rescue a girl from a 300 foot fall two states away. Apparently I must be quite a hiker. And doctor. So thanks for that one," he said wryly with a smirk.

"Needless to say," he continued as Jack settled Claire and himself down on the couch; Michael paused to turn on the television, where the news was currently broadcasting outside his house about a girl who had been thought dead for ten years being suddenly found, alive and well, in Nevada. "You don't need Google to find her this time."

As the news story continued, the reporter handed the story off to a different reporter somewhere in Arizona. The camera zoomed in on a different house, narrating about the people who lived there.

As Claire avidly watched the television, Jack was suddenly distracted immediately.

_Jack?_

Jack immediately stiffened, listening to his daughter's voice.

_I'm safe Dad, _she continued now that she had his attention. _But Jack...They're taking me to my birth parents._

Jack's eyes widened as the television showed a ten year old picture of a happy family-taken on the cliffside at Windswept Falls.

"We're about to have a bigger problem," Jack said, meeting Claire's eyes, "In the form of parents."

-((To Be Continued!))-

Home stretch time! Oh dear; how happy do you think _those_ parents will be at missing out on their daughter's childhood? The angst continues!

Please R&R!

~freaky-hanyou


	10. More Than I Could Ever Ask For

Well hey there. It has been far too long, but I do have a good excuse as to my reason for getting swept up in the Universe: this Thursday I am moving to Japan for a year, _so_ things are starting to get a little hectic. All the more reason to get this story on the road! If I am not mistaken, this chapter is _it_ (and then an epilogue of course), and I plan to have both of these out before I leave the country.

But I must take this moment to offer a quick thank you to Dominosowner and Alisdair Anhamirak for your wonderful reviews and encouragement!

Let's do this, shall we?

**The Fall**

_Chapter Nine: More Than I Could Ever Ask For_

Lex sat cross-legged in the middle of a bed with a polka dot comforter, staring at the swirly patterns of wallpaper across from her. Her bed. Her wallpaper. Her room.

_This is…weird,_ she admitted to herself as she continued to look around the room, overwhelmed by the turn of events of the past two days. _I can't accept that the resolution of all of this is to be unceremoniously returned to my parents—_

She glanced towards the closed door of her bedroom, thinking of the man and woman downstairs: not to mention a younger sister and an older brother, away at college. _My real parents…_ Lex mused to herself as she flopped back to lay on the bed, _They seem kinda weird. _She let out a little giggle, wondering what Jack would think if she told him that this father seemed to possess an extreme dislike towards mischief and shenanigans. At least those caused by her younger sister anyway. _I'm sure I can get used to this…I think._

She sighed, looking at the window for any signs of winter, despite the mild Arizona-November air outside. _ Dad, you said you'd come for me…please hurry up,_ she thought to herself, rolling over to snuggle the pillow. _I don't think I can face all of this by myself._

A feminine voice floated up the stairs. "Alex? Dinner is ready!"

Lex rolled her eyes. "Guess I'm gonna have to try," she muttered, steeling herself as she rolled off of the bed, "Starting with that name…" She opened her door and slowly moved down the stairs, still acquainting herself with the house she arrived at only this afternoon. She turned into the kitchen, seating herself down at the table next to her sister, who had blonde hair the same shade as her own, and her father, whose blue eyes matched hers but lacked warmth. His serious expression unnerved her, but her mother smiled tentatively at her as she put the finishing touches on the meal at the stove.

Lex felt a pang of guilt before she even said anything to the blonde-haired, green eyed stranger. "M-mom?" she asked, trying not to wince at how awkward the word sounded to her own ears. "W-Would it be okay if you called me Lex? That's the only thing I could remember for the past ten years, and it sounds really weird to be called something else…"

Her mother's smile faltered ever-so-slightly and she turned back towards the stove. "No problem dear," she said with a little grin, "If I recall correctly ten years ago that was how you would pronounce your name…" She picked up a covered bowl and carried it over to the table before sitting down.

"What are we having?" Lex said, smiling as her mother sat across from her, trying to strike up an easier conversation.

"Spaghetti," her mom said, uncovering the bowl and starting to pass it around the table. "It used to be your favorite…" she said with a slight blush.

Lex froze as the bowl was passed to her. She set it down next to her plate as her eyes suddenly stung with tears.

"_Bring in some good tomatoes!"_

"Lex?" Her mother asked tentatively, "Are you alright? If you don't like spaghetti, I can make you something else…"

"No!" Lex started, knocked out of her reverie. "I'm sorry, no, spaghetti is wonderful, it's fine, I…It's really hard to explain…"

"Don't worry dear," her mother said, reaching over the table to pat her hand, "I know that this is difficult. We just have to take it one step at a time—"

Lex's eyes widened a fraction. The parallels between her sets of parents seemed to be hitting her all at once. However, her attention was distracted abruptly when her father blurted out suddenly:

"It's our fault," he said, fiercely meeting her eyes. This had clearly been bothering him since she'd arrived. What happened to the smiling, laughing man she remembered only two days ago? "We didn't protect you, and—"

"No," Lex said forcefully, cutting him off, "No it wasn't your fault," she emphasized. However, she hesitated, trying to figure out a way to explain the truth. Her father cut her off.

"Yes it was," he continued, gripping his napkin tightly between his fingers, "You were only five at the time. We should've watched you better, and now as a result of this you grew up God-knows-where, having God-knows-what kinds of parents—"

"My parents are wonderful," Lex spat harshly, offended at the jibe against Jack and Claire. She immediately regretted it however; it was only for an instant, but Lex could see the hurt shadowed in her mother's eyes. "I'm sorry," Lex blurted out, not knowing what else to say. "This is really difficult…" she continued, brows knitting together in thought. She tried again, "There's something I need to explain to you, but I'm not sure how."

Her mother raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. Suddenly, a sharp breeze blew open the back door of the house that was in the corner of the kitchen; Lex's heart leapt into her throat as Jack and Claire rushed into the house, looking around for Lex. Lex's eyes met Claire's and she teared up all over again.

Her father for his part, inadvertently plowed between Jack and Claire in his haste to close the "broken back door;" Her mother, who had noticed her daughter's sudden change of expression, was about to ask what happened when Molly, her 10-year-old sister, spoke up for the first time:

"Mom, who's that?" she asked, pointing at the empty air by the door.

"Who?" her mother asked, turning to look at the back door. "No one's there dear."

"But there is!" Molly protested, "There's a man and a woman; they look a bit older than Lex!"

Just as her father was about to weigh in on the matter, Lex cut him off, "Actually, she's right," she said. It was all Lex could do to keep herself seated and not run into her mother's arms.

"….What?" her father asked, clearly confused.

Lex braced herself for the oncoming tempest. "My parents just walked in the door."

"_What?_" her father repeated.

"I was raised by Jack Frost and Claire Breeze," she explained, hoping that might help make some progress.

"What?"

"Who's Claire Breeze?"

"Wow!" Molly stood up from the table and walked over to Claire. "You're really Claire Breeze?"

Claire smiled at her. "You bet."

Molly's eyes widened a fraction. "Can you really control the wind?"

In response, Claire summoned a little breeze to ruffle Molly's blonde hair. "Wow!" She exclaimed, impressed.

"What's going on here?" Her mother said, panic growing slightly in her voice.

Lex stood to be near Molly and her parents. "You can't see them unless you believe in them," she explained. "Typically only children believe in silly notions such as Jack Frost and Claire Breeze," she continued, "But please," she said as she met eyes with her new mother and father, "You have to believe in them or you won't be able to see who saved my life."

It took a moment, but soon her mother gasped at the two people who seemingly materialized in her kitchen. "But…But they're teenagers!" She protested, in shock.

"I am turning 400 soon, thank you," Jack said with a grin. Lex took her hand and tugged; her mother stumbled out of her chair and came closer to stand in front of Claire.

"These are my other parents," she introduced, "Claire Breeze and Jack Frost."

Mrs. Martin shook their hand. "I…Call me Jill," she said immediately, as if polite mannerisms overrode her current shocked persona. She looked back at her husband, who was still sitting at the table, confused.

"Ken," she whispered, "This is real."

After a moment, Mr. Martin nearly fell out of the chair in shock at the appearance of two people in the kitchen.

"Well that's a good start," Jack said, stepping towards him to help prevent him from falling. Once he was balanced again, Jack smiled. "Might there be some place we could talk?"

-((Super family pow-wow))-

"….And so that's how she _really_ fell," Jack finished, explaining in the simplest way possible _who_ exactly was responsible for their daughter's near deadly fall as the group sat in the living room. "Once she had healed from her injuries, she had no idea who she was or where she had come from."

"She only remembered her first name," Claire said, nodding.

"Let me get this straight," Ken said, at this point having thrown skepticism out the window in order to understand his daughter's past. "You found her, _saved_ her, but you didn't return her? You could have found us!"

"We tried," Claire said, cutting in before Jack could start to argue and make everything worse, "We managed to use the news to figure out where you lived. However, once we got there…"

"The house had been sold," Jack finished. "We had no other way of finding you. For the sake of Lex's safety, we did our best to raise her as our own."

"The man who the news says had her is my nephew," Claire explained, but offered no other explanation as to how that was possible.

"That _is_ our fault that we moved so quickly," Jill said, giving her husband a look, "The house had so many memories…as soon as we got home it felt as if…as if-"

"We were living in a nightmare," Ken said darkly, staring at the floor and steepling his fingers in front of him. Jack and Claire shared a significant glance as Jill continued her husband's thought.

"We just couldn't stay for a minute longer, so we had to move quickly."

"We understand," Claire said placatingly, reaching out her hand to grip Jack's knee. Pitch really had thought of everything.

"You still could've found us," Ken muttered, but not very softly.

"Not when we're invisible," Jack said, temper going out the window. "We did what we could and raised our daughter—"

"_Our_ daughter!" Ken said, standing.

"_Stop it!"_ Lex yelled, jumping to her feet and striding to the middle of the room. Her father sat back down reluctantly. She turned to address them. "Listen, I know you're my parents, but…" she gestured at Claire and Jack, "They are my parents too, and always will be. I need you to accept them, or I can't stay here."

Her mother and father were silent for a moment before her mother smacked her father over the shoulder. He stood. "I'm sorry," he started, tentatively holding out his arms. "It's…been hard, but I'm willing to do anything—" he stopped, voice cracking, and Lex stepped into his arms, hugging him tightly. She let go before any group hug could possibly commence, and reached out for Jack and Claire's hands.

"Now you will always be my Mom and Dad," she said, squeezing their hands tightly. She let them go before turning to her mother and father.

"And you," she said, tentatively reaching for their hands, "will always be…" she paused, trying to think of a suitable variation. "Mama and Papa," she finished with a smile. "Now everyone will know who everyone is talking about."

Jack laughed before reaching out to pull Lex into a hug. "Oh Lex," he whispered, hugging her tightly, "I told you everything would be alright."

"You're right," Lex said, pulling away to pull Jill into a hug as well (she was looking a little left out), "It might take a while but…" she stepped back to address all of them,

"I have the best family I could ever ask for."

-((To Be Continued!))-

And things are finally wrapping up! Just have to dot a few I's and cross some T's and we're done!

Let me know what you think!

~freaky-hanyou


	11. Epilogue

I promised myself this would be finished before I left the country and so help me _it will. _Tomorrow I leave for DC to start my journey to live in Japan, so my brain is a liiiittle sideways, but I've been figuring out the epilogue all week and I really want to say I did this. So thank you all for your favorites and love and reviews for this story (thanks Dominosowner for reviewing last chapter :D) and I'm glad you liked it!

I have more in store for Jack and Claire and various points on their timeline together, so please if you like what you read put me on Author Alert! There will definitely be more in the future!

Let's do this.

**The Fall**

_Epilogue: Parents in Stereo_

-((_One Year Later))_-

_Lex Martin sat alone at a picnic table on the edge of Windswept Falls, quietly watching the sun set over the majestic twin waters. _

_"Beautiful, isn't it?" her brother, Cliff, said as he sat next to her at the picnic table. _

_"Every time," Lex whispered almost to herself before turning to him with a smile. "Take a picture of me?" she said as she got up and walked closer to the edge, where her family took a different picture on that fateful day more than ten years ago. _

_The moment she walked near the edge, a 'crack' resounded through the air, and Cliff disappeared from view; she was falling once again, falling-_

_"Do you really think this is going to scare me now?" Lex said to the open air in the now engulfing darkness as she continued to fall. _

_"I know you're there," she continued, talking into the darkness around her, "You're just not strong enough to talk to me," she surmised. "Or afraid," she added as an afterthought._

_Suddenly, Lex was falling faster, almost as if the darkness was angry at her response._

_"It won't work," she said loudly, imagining her Mom and Dad next to her, protecting her from the gloom. "Because I know I'll always have someone there to catch me."_

"Lex! Wake up dear!"

Lex slowly opened her eyes, looking up at her bedroom ceiling. _Another failed attempt at a nightmare,_ she mused, snuggling deeply into the blankets. _He's just never going to give up is he?_

"Lex! If Papa's taking you to school today, you better be down soon!"

Lex groaned softly. That's right; today was Wednesday. That meant no easy flight to school, and she had to wake up to be driven there.

Bracing herself, she ripped off the covers and sat up, mentally preparing herself for the school day. _It's almost Easter Break!_ she encouraged herself, _just a few more days..._

-((Downstairs))-

Lex hurriedly grabbed some waffles and picked her bookbag up from the living room floor.

"Let's go Lex, or we'll never make it there in this traffic-" her father said, already opening the front door of the house.

Lex followed right behind him, looking out the front door. "Papa, watch-"

But it was too late. Her father stepped out the door straight onto a patch of ice on the front step, which had mysteriously formed there despite the mild climate. Lex immediately clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles as her father picked himself off the ground. However, instead of ranting and raving as Lex would have expected of him a year ago, he just smirked slightly and bent to pick up his briefcase.

"Jack, you scoundrel," he muttered with a chuckle before turning to Lex as if nothing happened. "Ready?"

_Oh Dad, I think you're wearing off on him..._"Ready!" she said, following him out the door.

-((Later))-

After a dinner featuring some fresh plants from Lex and Claire's new garden in the backyard, Lex found herself reluctant to do her homework, just like any high schooler.

_Just think,_ she thought to herself, _after this it's Thursday, and then we have Good Friday off! Thank you Easter,_ she thought cheerily, almost distracted from the dreadful math problems in front of her. _I hope Uncle Bunny does a good job at hiding the eggs this year; last year was way too easy, even for Molly..._She looked down at her math paper. All she had succeeded in doing was drawing small Easter eggs around the border of the paper.

_Shit, this sucks._

-((Still Later))-

Lex didn't even look up from her paper as she heard the sound of her bedroom window opening.

"Sorry I'm late!" Claire said as she breezed through the window, "Your Dad is all in a tizzy about Easter; he is _convinced_ that this year is_ the_ year for the blizzard of the century in the Northeast on Easter Sunday." She gave Lex a kiss on the cheek and sat down on her bed.

Lex pulled away from her homework. "Uncle Bunny would _definitely_ not like that," she agreed.

"I know, and I'd rather not see them fighting again; it happens too often. Although Jack swears it's all in good humor..." she looked away for a second, lost in thought about Jack and Bunny's strange relationship. "Anyway, I managed to convince him to bring the blizzard tonight instead, so that way Easter _might_ make it out alright."

"I wish I lived in the Northeast," Lex muttered, lamenting the lack of snow days in Arizona and Utah.

Claire laughed before changing the subject. "So anyway, I'm here now! How was your school day?"

"Oh you know, boring as usual. I'd _much_ rather hear about Dad and Uncle Bunny. So is Dad making the blizzard right now? Can I help?" she asked, growing more enthusiastic with the thought. "Mama!" she called down the stairs, "Can I go with Mom to the Northeast for a few hours?"

"Did you finish your homework?" Lex heard this question in stereo; both Claire and Jill asked at the same time.

Lex barely kept from rolling her eyes. "I just finished," she called down the stairs while at the same time directing the answer to Claire.

"Then bring your bookbag, and I'll just take you to school in the morning," Claire said, standing up as Lex hurriedly grabbed her schoolwork. "I'll be in Utah tonight Mama!" she called down as an afterthought, no one in her family even blinking at the strange sentence.

"Shall we?" Claire said as Lex piled on her back.

"Let's. If _I_ can't have a snow day, at least someone can," she said, and the two flew out into the night.

And so although Lex lived with double the houses, and double the parents, and double the chaos, she also felt double the happiness and love.

-((The End!))-

Yeah kinda long for an epilogue but I thought it was cute. So Yay! Happiness! So thank you again; let me know what you think!

Also author alert me if you like what you read!

Hope to see you in the future,

~freaky-hanyou


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